Day 9

Today is my 28th birthday!

I’m so exhausted and elated from all this work, that tonight I’ll let (an edited version) of my mom’s letter to me suffice for a birthday story.

“You were born on January 13th, 1979 during the middle of a snow storm…[cut]…We spent our first few months together with Dad working and me and you and Sweetie the dog at home in the farmhouse. We would take walks every day up the dirt road in [a small town] and back to the house or around the fields and into the woods. You were healthy and we were a happy little family unit. Dad had applied to law schools and I think it was in April that we learned where he was accepted and he decided to go to [LawSchool] . That set lots of wheels in motion. I went back to work part time to help [a big nonprofit group] make a transition to a new Personnel Manager and pass an important government audit. On the days I worked, you stayed at the home of a very nice lady (Linda was her first name) who lived ten minutes from my office. Dad was working as a Medical Photographer for [a University] Memorial Hospital, where you were born. He was a pretty serious runner – absolutely skinny, not smoking, and pretty busy with planning for our move to Oregon. We packed up in June – a large U-Haul van loaded to bursting, stuffing your 5 foot high stuffed giraffe (a gift from Uncle Leo) into the back before several friends helped us push the doors shut. Dad drove the van across the country and you and I went to Nana and Gramps’ for about two weeks.

I talked to Dad on the phone as he traveled across the country – he was also towing our Volvo station wagon. Nana and Gramps enjoyed our visit with them and they saw us off on the airplane on July the 4th, 1979. When Dad first got to Portland, he stayed at that hotel by the Barbur Transit Station and parked the van at the [Law School] campus while he looked for an apartment we could rent. He found one in Multnomah (I’m sure I pointed it out to you over the years) and called us to join him. Uncle Leo had some time off and decided to fly out to help us. He actually got there before you and I and had already helped Dad unpack the van. We lived there during the summer and spent our days getting to know the area – we walked to Multnomah Village every day with you in the stroller and drove to the coast, to the gorge, to Mt. Hood, downtown, etc. We had decided to take most of the summer off so while I began looking for work, I wanted to start in the fall. Dad began law school in late August and was fully immersed in that while I was still looking for work. I had interviewed seriously at the Red Cross (located in John’s Landing area) and was offered a job there but held out for the job at [BigTechnologyCopmany] and began there in mid October. By that time we had found Maxine Shepard and that is where you went while I was at work….”

Thanks Mom! Now I’m off to a birthday party here in the hotel, with lots of authors and new friends!