I'm a bit curious as to how many people went "back home" after their TWI experience.
And so my question is this:
Did your involvement with TWI affect where you chose to settle?
Nope. I moved to Texas because that's where the job I was offered was. I did hook up with the nearest Twig as soon as I could.
In the LCM years, local leadership tried to get me to sell my house and move forty miles away so I'd be closer to myh Twig. I opted out, much to leadership's dismay. Ironically, my Twig Leader moved another sixty miles away after that!
Well, I'm a west coast sort of guy. After living in the South, New England, Germany, Japan and *cough* St. Mary's, I'm back in California. I can live anywhere from B.C. Canada to just north of San Jose and I'll be happy. Colorado, Wyoming, San Diego or Montana might be ok, Alaska would be interesting but doesn't work with my skill set.
Truthfully, I liked the Ohio people, and not just the wayfers. But I flat-out could not stand the weather. Winters were ok, but the hot, humid summers were miserable. So here I am, out in the middle of California cornfields. It doesn't look so different from Ohio, just a little bigger and a little more industrialised.
I have moved to 3 different states in 8yrs. I never left my homeland till my mom passed in 2002. I grew up in Chicago area, and moved to DC area then to NC and up to New England..talking about crossing cultures.wew! It has been a trip to say the least!
Now I commute via 2 buses and a train to work to Cambridge,Mass. I work a mile from Harvard University. Who would of thought I would end up here. Boston is intriguing..the winter's are long and summer's to dang short but the treasure is fall!
On St.Patty's day I decided to go out to the courtyard where all the restaurants and bars are!! To my surprize there was bagpiper outside the Irish pub playing pipes..what a great lunch!! sitting on a stone wall listening to bagpipes..only in Boston!
Yeah, I came home. Sort of because of TWI, but not completely.
My husband died while we were still in TWI and a year later, I realized I needed some unconditional support.
Family seemed the logical answer. Mom and Dad kind of stuff. It wasn't the reason I left TWI but it all fell in one pile together.
I needed to get back in college, get where my kids (16 and 3 then) could have people that would provide what was needed in support form. We also needed some quiet to grieve and and figure out the 'now what' stuff.
I never ever! planned on returning to the little town I grew up in and it was tough to deal with feeling like I was going backwards and my parents and I had to deal with me being an adult, widowed, a mom, a grownup.
My choice was exactly right! They've supported us, kicked in where their were voids, been there like only family can.
The Wif' and I left Cahlyfohnya to go to Indiana, we went "WOW". It was a great experience. I wanted to make a change for some specific reasons. Like Jim though, we're Kalifohneeya people, so it was inevitable that we return to the Golden State eventually and we did. So if you're gathering stat's on the responses waysider, don't count me under the "lived somewhere because of continuous cattle prod brainwashing". I moved, we moved, because we wanted to try some different living experiences.
We then moved from WO-WO country to the heart of Shelby Co. to live at the Way Nash and go into the Corps. So Ohio became home for about 8 years, with a brief one year break back in California.
Florida after that for about another 8 years. Great state, bought a nice home our last couple years there. I never adjusted to the humidity though so I was a walking sweat stain waiting to happen. Plus, the bugs. Those big Palmetto bugs were just gross, and were next to impossible to collect rent from despite the fact they loved to come in the house and stay any chance they got. They were nasty freeloaders. Not to mention the fuzzy green spiders that ate them, which was nice except their table manners left a lot to be desired so we never got along. I battled galliantly and achieved containment of our interior property but that ain't no way to live. So we moved back to California.
Here, we determined to move north of the Bay Area where we'd grown up and have been glad we did.
I do have some regrets though. I wish I'd invested in IBM in 1969 when I first worked briefly as a computer operator. I also wish I'd kept my big old Silvertone sunburst flat top acoustic guitar I started on when I was 10. It would be worth some dough today and played like a beast. I also got a Fender Telecaster in '63 that was sweet. I needed to trade it in on a Gold Top LP, but if I'd had the money I'd kept it. I try to live with these regrets, passing on the wisdom to my children of some hard lessons learned. As The Girl likes to say now - "You add to the collection, you don't subTRACT from the collection". She's a goodun, as is the Boy who still has his first Fernandes Strat, a red bomb we found after scrulling through dozens of guitars. It's as true as north, perfect intonation and loves a set of .012's. They're The Future.
I was born and raised in Northern California. In the early 70's the TWI experience (as much as my youth) took me to lots of other places. Wow in Michigan, branch in Florida, way corps in Kansas & Indiana, staff at New Knoxville. When I left there it was because I wanted to (as did the wife I had at the time). Leaving HQ was not impossible, but support was a little thin, because the people I worked with wanted "lifers" as they called them.
But we moved back to sunny California, yep - I went back home. But didn't stay so long, because the wife wanted to go "home" too, and that for her was Maryland (the thought of earthquakes freaked her a little too). So we moved again, not because of TWI at all. TWI was against it.
Eventually the wife moved on to other things, but I stayed here. My children, my work, and being tired of moving; keep me here. This location is pretty good, lots of good friends, a decent work potential, some good music spots.
But I miss the California home alot! Where driving for less than an hour can take you to the beach, the redwood forests, the mountains, the city, or the country. I still get to visit.
Socks, it sounds like you and yours live in that area. Enjoy it for me, ok?
TWI made moving part of life, but I probably would have done my own wandering anyway, even if it hadn't been for them.
I grew up in Queens, NYC and was sent to Nebraska as a WOW in 1980 (a childhood friend, who had been a WOW a year earlier was also sent to Nebraska). I stayed for an extra year and ended up meeting my first wife, had kids...
I'm still here 27+ years later.
I doubt that I would have ended up here if not for TWI, but who knows what I would have done otherwise.
Personally, I would have never chosen my current (ministry-designated) location. It's all the things you wouldn't look for when it comes to relocation (weather, terrain, economy, opportunity... all not great). But by the time I left twi, my kid was already in school, had life-long friends, and I didn't really want to take him away from his dad, so........
I do visit "home" a lot, and it has changed so much I couldn't go back, besides I never wanted to stay there in the first place.
I've managed to do alright for myself here... okay job, okay house, okay neighborhood. But there is a part of me that is always aware of the fact that I didn't pick this place, and I wouldn't have picked this place, and if I were completely free to leave, I probably would (although I do have friends here I would miss). I think it is less about not liking it here, than about it being one more piece of twi baggage I would like to dump out of my life.
So it's one of those "some day" dreams. Maybe when my kid grows up. Maybe when the house is paid off and fixed up. Maybe when I retire. Maybe never.
I have moved to 3 different states in 8yrs. I never left my homeland till my mom passed in 2002. I grew up in Chicago area, and moved to DC area then to NC and up to New England..talking about crossing cultures.wew! It has been a trip to say the least!
Now I commute via 2 buses and a train to work to Cambridge,Mass. I work a mile from Harvard University. Who would of thought I would end up here. Boston is intriguing..the winter's are long and summer's to dang short but the treasure is fall!
On St.Patty's day I decided to go out to the courtyard where all the restaurants and bars are!! To my surprize there was bagpiper outside the Irish pub playing pipes..what a great lunch!! sitting on a stone wall listening to bagpipes..only in Boston!
I didn't realize you worked in Cambridge, my sis works for Harvard and I worked for Harvard for a few months long ago. Nice place just across the back bay on the Charles river. I'm guessing you were in Harvard Square, Central Square,or maybe Cambridge Common.
There is a big Irish memorial in Cambridge Common an Irish Famine Memorial, Taken the red line there many a time there are some nice restaurants in central square and usually some music of some sort. Faneuil Hall over the bay in Boston is another great center of fun, food, and music.
All this talk about movin' and whatnot has got me thinkin' about some good news I got recently.
Yeah. It seems my grandson Cletus(That's his name.) has decided not to run away and join the circus after all.
It's probably just as well.
His fear of heights probably would have had a severe effect on his dream of becoming a trapeze artist.
His brother Cleophus(He's the ornery one.) has had a change of heart as well.
After watching the scene from Fantasia where Mickey Mouse has to haul buckets of water back and forth, he reckoned life as an elephant trainer might not be all it's cracked up to be.
Their sister Clara-Belle(That's short for Helen.) said to me----"Gee, Grandpa waysider, I didn't know 'old geezers' like you could get home-sick."
Sheesh!! That's just plain silly.
I mean, where do you 'spose she ever got the idea that I'm an "old geezer"?
I've managed to do alright for myself here... okay job, okay house, okay neighborhood. But there is a part of me that is always aware of the fact that I didn't pick this place, and I wouldn't have picked this place, and if I were completely free to leave, I probably would (although I do have friends here I would miss). I think it is less about not liking it here, than about it being one more piece of twi baggage I would like to dump out of my life.
So it's one of those "some day" dreams. Maybe when my kid grows up. Maybe when the house is paid off and fixed up. Maybe when I retire. Maybe never.
This brings out some great points too! I sometimes find myself a little resentful about where I am in these areas. I can not bring myself to blame TWI or another person but it still gets to me from time to time.
When we moved here I rented a house without seeing it because I wanted a roof over our heads, but I never did like it. Then we moved into our current house two years later and again it was not a place I liked but time, money, etc., factored in and I took it.
We've been in the same house for 8 years now and all the same reasons apply.
In TWI we moved so much for so many reasons and were never able to take the time to find a home we liked, it was of necessity and crunched time that we signed a lease and moved in.
I prefer to keep thankful that we had a roof over our heads and no one went hungry, but sometimes............
I, too, go towards the 'someday'. When it's just me I'll take the time to find a home I love, when money is better I'll move to someplace that feels like home. I've landed a pretty good job that is across the street, is the same as my daughters schedule and pays ok, so I wouldn't want to mess with that either.
As parents we do whatever we must do for whatever reason. This area is a GREAT place to raise a kid; it's safe, small, the school is pretty good. My eldest was in some unsafe school systems and we lived in some pretty unsafe neighborhoods while in TWI so this relief is welcome.
Also this house is where my maternal grandparents lived while I grew up so there is that neat added bonus. But it is just a structure and not my preferance.
I believe that in this life we do what we have to do and the 'resentments' are there, going to be there. Life goes way too fast and I'm beginning to wish differant things because of that too.
Something that I have milled over is that perhaps the concept of "home" is larger than a geographic location.
Yes, I could get back to my hometown for a visit in a matter of hours, and I do just that, occasionally.
Maybe if the conditions presented themselves, I could even move back permanently.
But, still, there is and will always be a missing piece to the puzzle.
Perhaps it involves events as well as mere geography.
In the 30+ years since I've moved away, I have missed seeing my nieces and nephews grow from infants into parenthood.
I've missed graduations and weddings of family and friends.
Funerals have been missed as well.
I've missed the opportunity of being able to help my parents make the transition from middle age into an elderly status.---------------And the list goes on.
Even if I were to walk out the door today and move back "home", it wouldn't all be there when I arrived.
It's not unique to The Way, that's for sure. We live in a mobile society.
But, for some of us, TWI was the reason we moved, not a job with the phone company or a desire for a particular environment. And so, I think our involvement in TWI was and is a part of the conversation.
My wife's family, for example, is not from this area either.
However, with one exception, they now all live nearby.
They all think of this as "home".
So, in a sense, they have brought the concept of "home" with them and adapted it to a different location.
In the 30+ years since I've moved away, I have missed seeing my nieces and nephews grow from infants into parenthood.
I've missed graduations and weddings of family and friends.
Funerals have been missed as well.
I've missed the opportunity of being able to help my parents make the transition from middle age into an elderly status.---------------And the list goes on.
Even if I were to walk out the door today and move back "home", it wouldn't all be there when I arrived.
It's not unique to The Way, that's for sure. We live in a mobile society.
But, for some of us, TWI was the reason we moved,...
waysider..........yeah, same here.
There's a whole chunk of life's episodes that I missed from my twi involvement......and, in a crazy-sorta-way, it goes into the next generation as well......my kids never spent hardly any time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. and now that they're older, it's time that cannot be revisited.
No, it's not unique to twi..........but probably a little more extreme than most.
wing, I will, we will. But if you're happy out East add to the happy knowing that Kahleefonya's current situation makes the 70's look like Camelot. With all his powers even the Governator's struggling to get things under control.
More rambling fish wrap - it's Easter too. Grab your chocolate bunnies!
I realized a huge lesson years ago, one night in the car - on the radio, believe it or not. I was listening to "Talk Radio", back in the day when Sally Jesse Raphael and Bruce Williams had talk shows on it, back to back. I was listening to Williams's show, a financial advice and talk show and someone was saying how they had an opportunity with a company but it required moving and they had kids and didn't want to uproot them. We had our son then and The Girl was to come along within a year so I turned up the volume as I'd been mulling that general topic over myself of late.
He said he'd moved 20-30 times over the years to pursue opportunities. He encouraged the person to not get locked down into a location for fear of what it would do to the kids, their own comfort level, etc. Go for it if it looked like the right thing to do. He pointed out it's never too late or too early. Others say your crazy? It's your life, live it.
It gave me a whole new perspective, in 5 minutes. We'd done that before, why not do it again? What "comfort" level was I trying to maintain? At the time it was more of a discomfort level.
We moved once the next year and then finally back to California - here we met a lot of people who'd bought homes years before, a few that had mortgages paid down. Now that we'd decided to settle here I wished I'd started earlier. So I just started when and where I was. That's all I could do, so that's what I did.
It's worked out very well, but if I'd told myself it was "too late" it wouldn't have happened. We've had 16 years in our home - if I'd talked myself out of it because it was "too late" - hey, 16 years is a long time. I'd still be kicking myself thinking I'd wished I'd done this or that.
We added an addition up top. At the time I realized the kids would be moving out in a few years, maybe it wasn't that necessary. They moved out. And back in. And out and in again. We've had about 10 years with the addition. It was the best thing I ever did, despite the feeling it might be "too late".
Decisions aren't always within our direct reach, I know there are other concerns we have to balance. But...
It's never too late. :) The right time is always now.
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Ham
Yes. They sent me to Michigan, as a wow in 1977. I have stayed here since.
Can I "go home".. no. I can visit if I want, but actually go home? No.
It's not as bad as it may sound..
but I'm not *really* home.. but I can't really go home either..
does that make any sense?
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waysider
It makes a WHOLE LOT OF SENSE to me, Ham.
That describes much of how I feel.
Thanks.
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cheranne
I was a military brat when i got into twi,so i really had no home to begin with,my hometown
is san antonio texas where i was born and have family still,but i didn't go back there,after
i left twi i joined the Army.
After my husband retired we went back to his hometown,to help his very ill parents in
western maryland.
I still miss san antonio and go there whenever i can afford to. Home is where your heart is.
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Ham
I dunno..
I think we all came from the light, and to the light we must return..
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waysider
Thanks, OCW
I guess my wife is a bit like you in one respect.
Her dad's job was not military.(Though he is a decorated WWII Vet)
They moved all up and down the East Coast with his work.
So, to her, home is not a geographic place either.
On the other hand, all her family happens to live nearby so maybe it really is.
They have simply moved the whole family to a different location.
Thanks for your reply.
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GeorgeStGeorge
Nope. I moved to Texas because that's where the job I was offered was. I did hook up with the nearest Twig as soon as I could.
In the LCM years, local leadership tried to get me to sell my house and move forty miles away so I'd be closer to myh Twig. I opted out, much to leadership's dismay. Ironically, my Twig Leader moved another sixty miles away after that!
George
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Jim
Well, I'm a west coast sort of guy. After living in the South, New England, Germany, Japan and *cough* St. Mary's, I'm back in California. I can live anywhere from B.C. Canada to just north of San Jose and I'll be happy. Colorado, Wyoming, San Diego or Montana might be ok, Alaska would be interesting but doesn't work with my skill set.
Truthfully, I liked the Ohio people, and not just the wayfers. But I flat-out could not stand the weather. Winters were ok, but the hot, humid summers were miserable. So here I am, out in the middle of California cornfields. It doesn't look so different from Ohio, just a little bigger and a little more industrialised.
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waysider
Interesting comments.
Keep them flowing!!
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likeaneagle
Interesting topic WS.
I have moved to 3 different states in 8yrs. I never left my homeland till my mom passed in 2002. I grew up in Chicago area, and moved to DC area then to NC and up to New England..talking about crossing cultures.wew! It has been a trip to say the least!
Now I commute via 2 buses and a train to work to Cambridge,Mass. I work a mile from Harvard University. Who would of thought I would end up here. Boston is intriguing..the winter's are long and summer's to dang short but the treasure is fall!
On St.Patty's day I decided to go out to the courtyard where all the restaurants and bars are!! To my surprize there was bagpiper outside the Irish pub playing pipes..what a great lunch!! sitting on a stone wall listening to bagpipes..only in Boston!
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frank123lol
Can you really ever go back home? I was born and raised in good ole Michigan
Is it home?It tis cause of family,Old friends and neighbors of course you at greasespot are included too!!
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waysider
LAE and Frank
Good points.
Maybe I should have also asked how many would not have left their home areas(permanently) if not for some TWI program such as Corps, WOW, etc.
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Shellon
Yeah, I came home. Sort of because of TWI, but not completely.
My husband died while we were still in TWI and a year later, I realized I needed some unconditional support.
Family seemed the logical answer. Mom and Dad kind of stuff. It wasn't the reason I left TWI but it all fell in one pile together.
I needed to get back in college, get where my kids (16 and 3 then) could have people that would provide what was needed in support form. We also needed some quiet to grieve and and figure out the 'now what' stuff.
I never ever! planned on returning to the little town I grew up in and it was tough to deal with feeling like I was going backwards and my parents and I had to deal with me being an adult, widowed, a mom, a grownup.
My choice was exactly right! They've supported us, kicked in where their were voids, been there like only family can.
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waysider
Hi, Shellon
I think your reference to a "support system" is a critical component to this discussion.
Thank You
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socks
The Wif' and I left Cahlyfohnya to go to Indiana, we went "WOW". It was a great experience. I wanted to make a change for some specific reasons. Like Jim though, we're Kalifohneeya people, so it was inevitable that we return to the Golden State eventually and we did. So if you're gathering stat's on the responses waysider, don't count me under the "lived somewhere because of continuous cattle prod brainwashing". I moved, we moved, because we wanted to try some different living experiences.
We then moved from WO-WO country to the heart of Shelby Co. to live at the Way Nash and go into the Corps. So Ohio became home for about 8 years, with a brief one year break back in California.
Florida after that for about another 8 years. Great state, bought a nice home our last couple years there. I never adjusted to the humidity though so I was a walking sweat stain waiting to happen. Plus, the bugs. Those big Palmetto bugs were just gross, and were next to impossible to collect rent from despite the fact they loved to come in the house and stay any chance they got. They were nasty freeloaders. Not to mention the fuzzy green spiders that ate them, which was nice except their table manners left a lot to be desired so we never got along. I battled galliantly and achieved containment of our interior property but that ain't no way to live. So we moved back to California.
Here, we determined to move north of the Bay Area where we'd grown up and have been glad we did.
I do have some regrets though. I wish I'd invested in IBM in 1969 when I first worked briefly as a computer operator. I also wish I'd kept my big old Silvertone sunburst flat top acoustic guitar I started on when I was 10. It would be worth some dough today and played like a beast. I also got a Fender Telecaster in '63 that was sweet. I needed to trade it in on a Gold Top LP, but if I'd had the money I'd kept it. I try to live with these regrets, passing on the wisdom to my children of some hard lessons learned. As The Girl likes to say now - "You add to the collection, you don't subTRACT from the collection". She's a goodun, as is the Boy who still has his first Fernandes Strat, a red bomb we found after scrulling through dozens of guitars. It's as true as north, perfect intonation and loves a set of .012's. They're The Future.
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wing
I was born and raised in Northern California. In the early 70's the TWI experience (as much as my youth) took me to lots of other places. Wow in Michigan, branch in Florida, way corps in Kansas & Indiana, staff at New Knoxville. When I left there it was because I wanted to (as did the wife I had at the time). Leaving HQ was not impossible, but support was a little thin, because the people I worked with wanted "lifers" as they called them.
But we moved back to sunny California, yep - I went back home. But didn't stay so long, because the wife wanted to go "home" too, and that for her was Maryland (the thought of earthquakes freaked her a little too). So we moved again, not because of TWI at all. TWI was against it.
Eventually the wife moved on to other things, but I stayed here. My children, my work, and being tired of moving; keep me here. This location is pretty good, lots of good friends, a decent work potential, some good music spots.
But I miss the California home alot! Where driving for less than an hour can take you to the beach, the redwood forests, the mountains, the city, or the country. I still get to visit.
Socks, it sounds like you and yours live in that area. Enjoy it for me, ok?
TWI made moving part of life, but I probably would have done my own wandering anyway, even if it hadn't been for them.
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Oakspear
I grew up in Queens, NYC and was sent to Nebraska as a WOW in 1980 (a childhood friend, who had been a WOW a year earlier was also sent to Nebraska). I stayed for an extra year and ended up meeting my first wife, had kids...
I'm still here 27+ years later.
I doubt that I would have ended up here if not for TWI, but who knows what I would have done otherwise.
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TheHighWay
Personally, I would have never chosen my current (ministry-designated) location. It's all the things you wouldn't look for when it comes to relocation (weather, terrain, economy, opportunity... all not great). But by the time I left twi, my kid was already in school, had life-long friends, and I didn't really want to take him away from his dad, so........
I do visit "home" a lot, and it has changed so much I couldn't go back, besides I never wanted to stay there in the first place.
I've managed to do alright for myself here... okay job, okay house, okay neighborhood. But there is a part of me that is always aware of the fact that I didn't pick this place, and I wouldn't have picked this place, and if I were completely free to leave, I probably would (although I do have friends here I would miss). I think it is less about not liking it here, than about it being one more piece of twi baggage I would like to dump out of my life.
So it's one of those "some day" dreams. Maybe when my kid grows up. Maybe when the house is paid off and fixed up. Maybe when I retire. Maybe never.
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WhiteDove
There is a big Irish memorial in Cambridge Common an Irish Famine Memorial, Taken the red line there many a time there are some nice restaurants in central square and usually some music of some sort. Faneuil Hall over the bay in Boston is another great center of fun, food, and music.
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waysider
Ya Know---------
All this talk about movin' and whatnot has got me thinkin' about some good news I got recently.
Yeah. It seems my grandson Cletus(That's his name.) has decided not to run away and join the circus after all.
It's probably just as well.
His fear of heights probably would have had a severe effect on his dream of becoming a trapeze artist.
His brother Cleophus(He's the ornery one.) has had a change of heart as well.
After watching the scene from Fantasia where Mickey Mouse has to haul buckets of water back and forth, he reckoned life as an elephant trainer might not be all it's cracked up to be.
Their sister Clara-Belle(That's short for Helen.) said to me----"Gee, Grandpa waysider, I didn't know 'old geezers' like you could get home-sick."
Sheesh!! That's just plain silly.
I mean, where do you 'spose she ever got the idea that I'm an "old geezer"?
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Shellon
This brings out some great points too! I sometimes find myself a little resentful about where I am in these areas. I can not bring myself to blame TWI or another person but it still gets to me from time to time.
When we moved here I rented a house without seeing it because I wanted a roof over our heads, but I never did like it. Then we moved into our current house two years later and again it was not a place I liked but time, money, etc., factored in and I took it.
We've been in the same house for 8 years now and all the same reasons apply.
In TWI we moved so much for so many reasons and were never able to take the time to find a home we liked, it was of necessity and crunched time that we signed a lease and moved in.
I prefer to keep thankful that we had a roof over our heads and no one went hungry, but sometimes............
I, too, go towards the 'someday'. When it's just me I'll take the time to find a home I love, when money is better I'll move to someplace that feels like home. I've landed a pretty good job that is across the street, is the same as my daughters schedule and pays ok, so I wouldn't want to mess with that either.
As parents we do whatever we must do for whatever reason. This area is a GREAT place to raise a kid; it's safe, small, the school is pretty good. My eldest was in some unsafe school systems and we lived in some pretty unsafe neighborhoods while in TWI so this relief is welcome.
Also this house is where my maternal grandparents lived while I grew up so there is that neat added bonus. But it is just a structure and not my preferance.
I believe that in this life we do what we have to do and the 'resentments' are there, going to be there. Life goes way too fast and I'm beginning to wish differant things because of that too.
Someday............
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waysider
Excellent responses, one and all.
Something that I have milled over is that perhaps the concept of "home" is larger than a geographic location.
Yes, I could get back to my hometown for a visit in a matter of hours, and I do just that, occasionally.
Maybe if the conditions presented themselves, I could even move back permanently.
But, still, there is and will always be a missing piece to the puzzle.
Perhaps it involves events as well as mere geography.
In the 30+ years since I've moved away, I have missed seeing my nieces and nephews grow from infants into parenthood.
I've missed graduations and weddings of family and friends.
Funerals have been missed as well.
I've missed the opportunity of being able to help my parents make the transition from middle age into an elderly status.---------------And the list goes on.
Even if I were to walk out the door today and move back "home", it wouldn't all be there when I arrived.
It's not unique to The Way, that's for sure. We live in a mobile society.
But, for some of us, TWI was the reason we moved, not a job with the phone company or a desire for a particular environment. And so, I think our involvement in TWI was and is a part of the conversation.
My wife's family, for example, is not from this area either.
However, with one exception, they now all live nearby.
They all think of this as "home".
So, in a sense, they have brought the concept of "home" with them and adapted it to a different location.
OK---I'm done rambling for now.
Happy Easter, everyone.
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skyrider
waysider..........yeah, same here.
There's a whole chunk of life's episodes that I missed from my twi involvement......and, in a crazy-sorta-way, it goes into the next generation as well......my kids never spent hardly any time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. and now that they're older, it's time that cannot be revisited.
No, it's not unique to twi..........but probably a little more extreme than most.
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socks
wing, I will, we will. But if you're happy out East add to the happy knowing that Kahleefonya's current situation makes the 70's look like Camelot. With all his powers even the Governator's struggling to get things under control.
More rambling fish wrap - it's Easter too. Grab your chocolate bunnies!
I realized a huge lesson years ago, one night in the car - on the radio, believe it or not. I was listening to "Talk Radio", back in the day when Sally Jesse Raphael and Bruce Williams had talk shows on it, back to back. I was listening to Williams's show, a financial advice and talk show and someone was saying how they had an opportunity with a company but it required moving and they had kids and didn't want to uproot them. We had our son then and The Girl was to come along within a year so I turned up the volume as I'd been mulling that general topic over myself of late.
He said he'd moved 20-30 times over the years to pursue opportunities. He encouraged the person to not get locked down into a location for fear of what it would do to the kids, their own comfort level, etc. Go for it if it looked like the right thing to do. He pointed out it's never too late or too early. Others say your crazy? It's your life, live it.
It gave me a whole new perspective, in 5 minutes. We'd done that before, why not do it again? What "comfort" level was I trying to maintain? At the time it was more of a discomfort level.
We moved once the next year and then finally back to California - here we met a lot of people who'd bought homes years before, a few that had mortgages paid down. Now that we'd decided to settle here I wished I'd started earlier. So I just started when and where I was. That's all I could do, so that's what I did.
It's worked out very well, but if I'd told myself it was "too late" it wouldn't have happened. We've had 16 years in our home - if I'd talked myself out of it because it was "too late" - hey, 16 years is a long time. I'd still be kicking myself thinking I'd wished I'd done this or that.
We added an addition up top. At the time I realized the kids would be moving out in a few years, maybe it wasn't that necessary. They moved out. And back in. And out and in again. We've had about 10 years with the addition. It was the best thing I ever did, despite the feeling it might be "too late".
Decisions aren't always within our direct reach, I know there are other concerns we have to balance. But...
It's never too late. :) The right time is always now.
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excathedra
i'm back home
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