A Couple Of Nomads Settle Down

David and I were raised in the Midwest, went to school there, were married there, had two children there. And then one summer we decided to go west for our two week vacation and fell in love with Wyoming. There was just one problem: there was no easy way to make a living there. So we decided on Portland, Oregon. We sold our house, packed up our things, took the children out of school and left. Just like that. Our families thought we were crazy. My father was convinced the law must be after us, for after all, who would want to live anywhere other than the Chicago area?

We loved it in Portland, but David found work with a company that transferred us all over the west, so from Portland we went to Boise, from Boise to San Jose, from San Jose to Seattle. That part wasn't fun, but we've never regretted leaving the Midwest. I wouldn't go back for anything in the world. Some people are just happier in certain parts of the country, and this is our place.

I was delighted to be back the part of the Northwest that was close to the sea and real mountains. I'd taken it easy in Boise and skied several times a week, but we weren't close to water and mountains like we'd been in Portland, and in Seattle we were back to the land I loved.

In the meantime our son had graduated from college and our daughter was in her last year.

I'd found a house in a golf community, knowing how much David enjoyed golf, my ulterior motive being he wouldn't want to transfer somewhere else again so agreeably. I was right about that. He quit his job and started his own business which he ran out of our home. For awhile I was content with the knowledge we didn't have to move again, but it wasn't long before I realized this wasn't the place for me. I'd made a few friends, but most of the people who lived there quite naturally played golf and I thought the game was stupid. There wasn't anything that bored me more than hearing a bunch of adults enthusing about their latest game or the courses they'd played on.

Finally, one day I'd had it. I told David he'd been able to live in his paradise for quite awhile and now it was my turn. At first he brushed it off, but I kept coming back to it. "Look," I said, "I love the water and mountains and I want to live somewhere where I can see the water, and maybe mountains." Maybe an island.

"Okay," he said, finally, "Go look."