As mentioned in my previous post, I am beginning to write down some of my experiences of the past few weeks that have really taken me by surprise. The primary purpose is to give me a place to reflect on how the most unexpected changes in my family’s life have begun to unfold. This first post just explains the background of our journey.  The posts will all be in my new category: The Big Move

The recent rollercoaster began with our recent trip to my family reunion in Oregon. Months ago, my wife made it clear that she was not interested in attending a family reunion where we would have to drive 3 children several hours to a place I would see family members I never speak to much anyway and where I would likely get caught up interacting with people she doesn’t know while she tries to keep up with the kids by herself. I understood where she was coming from and it wasn’t so important to me that I would really try to convince her to go. It surprised me when out of the blue one day, she told me to get a hotel reservation and to RSVP for the reunion. Since the reunion was on my birthday, she wanted to give me the opportunity to go.

It’s never really easy to take an infant, a toddler, and a 7 year old on a road trip. In May, we had a tough enough time as we took a weekend to travel to Portland. After the May road trip, my wife vowed to never go to Portland again and to never take another road trip with the kids again. This time we planned it differently. On the last trip, we left at 3pm and got stuck several times in rush hour traffic between Seattle and Olympia. The kids also got long naps making it impossible to get them to sleep at the hotel before 11 pm. This time, we left after 7 pm so if the kids fell asleep after an hour or two, it was bedtime anyway so it would be easier to get them to sleep. Traffic is also much easier after 7. The drive was mostly pleasant. As we approached Portland, we were treated to a beautiful lightning display. This lasted for several miles.

Friday, July 13th was our first full day in Oregon. We started our day by heading to Lincoln City from our hotel in Keizer. We found a great place to let the kids play on the beach.

After some time at the beach, we went to my uncle’s house to have dinner and visit with family members in his backyard. During the visit, one of my aunts mentioned the farm that my mom’s uncle lived on for many years in upstate New York. After he passed away in 2004, it became necessary for his wife to move out. Now there is an interested buyer in the house and a portion of the 75 acres. The remaining land would be split up and sold. There are members of the family that wanted to find a way to pool resources to purchase the property so it doesn’t leave the family. I knew I couldn’t exactly put a whole lot of money or effort into it but I wanted in on whatever idea someone came up with.

The next day was my birthday. We spent much of the day at the state park where the family reunion was held. I had a couple conversations about the property but the prospects weren’t very good. There were just the beginnings of ideas without any plan of what steps we would take. After leaving the park, we spent the rest of the evening relaxing and ended up at a Mexican restaurant for dinner with my cousin and his family. It was the best Mexican food I had ever tasted.

The next day things would start getting really interesting. I was approaching one of the biggest pivotal moments of my life without even realizing it…

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