WHAT? WAIT!
Please grab those “hands of time” and slow down the clock for me. My
life is passing way too fast. I
started off this New Year with a goal to make more substantial progress on the
family projects that we brought back here to New York with us to do. I really want to work on the
video transfer project but since I am technologically challenged I have to wait
for my schedule to coincide with the person who said he could help me
understand the workings of my computer.
Meanwhile I started going through my old journals to see if there was
anything worth saving for posterity’s sake. This “little” project has sucked me back into time and I
have spent HOURS typing up and these old entries and reliving forgotten
memories. The following entry is
one of many from the years we spent in Sacrament, CA. Living in this old trailer on the Jensens' property holds many
happy memories for us.
April 22, 1980
"The last week has been very busy. When we got home (from
a trip to Montana), our good friends, Kent and Lynette Jensen, mentioned,
not thinking we would take them seriously, that the old trailer they rented
would be vacant in a few days.
Stan and I discussed seriously our living in an old, 8’ x 40’, 1½
bedroom trailer and decided to do it.
Our main reasoning was 1.
The rent was cheap, only $l35 and that included utilities, (We were paying $250 plus utilities for a two bedroom.) so we could
continue to try and get out of debt and save or get ahead; 2, We would be out
of the apartment living and have a yard for Don to play in with terrific
neighbors like the Jensen’s; 3. We
could also plant a garden, and 4.
We could still stay in the ward.
So for these main reasons and many smaller ones we told the Jensen’s
we’d “take it” if they would have us.
I don’t think that they could really believe we’d even consider living
in such small quarters, especially, Kent.
But they seemed more than glad to have us as neighbors and tenants if it
was what we wanted; that made us feel real good.
So the last week I have spent cleaning, sorting, packing and
unpacking. We moved into the
trailer last Saturday with the help of the Jensens and I’m still sorting and
putting away. We had to put the
majority of our things in an old attic and storage they had here. I’m trying to get us down to just the
things we really use the most so that we’re not too crowded. . . . Don sure does seem to enjoy it
here and spends a lot of time outside playing.
We bought a really nice hide-a-bed couch for $360+tax
wholesale. Stan and I sleep on the
couch, Don in the ½ bedroom (which is a bed in the hallway) and the bedroom
will be for the baby and extra things.”
July 16, 1980 (Our second son, David, was
born on June 20, 1980)
“We’re glad that it’s been an unseasonably cool summer thus far this
year. We’ll have a few hot days
followed by several cool days. The
last two days have been about 100 degrees and our little trailer isn’t much cooler. We’re really glad we moved to the
trailer for many reasons, it feels like the right move for us. But I must admit there have been a few
challenges besides small quarters.
First it was the slugs in the bathroom and the moths (I hate moths.) and the musty smell
at night. Now it’s the roaches and
the ants. The roaches aren’t
bad. I only see one or two every
other day. But these little bitty
ants are something else. Yesterday
I found them inside the honey bottle, peanut butter jar, and the unopened jar
of salad dressing. Most of the
time I take it all in stride but there are a few bad days when it’s very frustrating.”
What great memories of a new little family, good
friends, lessons learned while trying to save money, and the value of having a
yard to live and play in.
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| Stan, Don, and I not long after we moved to Sacramento in 1979. |
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| Don feeding his horse a carrot. |
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| At two Don was really into horses. |
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| The boy who wanted a yard to play in and got one. |
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| Don loved the yard but was not happy with our small Christmas tree. |
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Don's 3rd B-day. David is a month old.
Outside of the trailer. |
