This was then, and...
Twenty Five years later
Michael and I met July 1978, at a Plating Shop in Santa Clara, he was an electroplater, and I worked in Shipping & Receiving. For me when he walked by I just knew he was it, the kind of feeling one gets when they meet up again with their soulmate in this lifetime. We were lucky to find each other, I guess the planets were lined up correct and fate was working for us. Flashes of days past visions in my minds eye lead me to know we have been down this road before in another lifetime.
January 1979 we moved in with each other, and started our lives together. We were married in our backyard in Campbell California May 1983. We had a beautiful down to earth Renaissance wedding with family and friends. In July of 1985 our first born son Justin came to be. For us the decision was simple I would stay home and raise our son. Leaving the computer industry far behind. Michael was working at a company called ECAD, as a unix guy. December of 1989 Travis was born, and now our family was complete.
Ecad was gobbled up and became Cadence, Michael was there for fourteen years. We bought a Town House in Morgan Hill and lived there for 10 years. From Cadence he went to work for Seagate in Scotts Valley. Having spent so much time on the other side of the mountain I decided long ago that moving by the sea was in our future, as I believe it was in our past. It calls to me and there is something so magical and tranquil about the sea. December 1999 we moved to beautiful Santa Cruz. We bought a new home no attached walls to anyone else! The boys getting their own rooms and living so close to the sea. It doesn't get any better than this! No more living in a cave!
But in life there are ups and downs. After five years with Seagate they chose to close Michael's department of sixty engineers. Let's just say this kind of turned our world upside down. I had already decided I was going to rejoin the paid work force after seventeen years of Mom work. My search began at the same time as Michael's. Neither of us had a clue just how bad things were out there, living in our sheltered life, with the biggest worry at that time was how to please two finicky sons at dinner time! And make sure they were getting from point A to B, and that their homework was done.
It was the bust of Silicon Valley, and country wide an economy that kept on slipping lower. 911 a tragedy, the loss of life, the loss of a way of life, sorrow and grief for our Country. My brother and his wife laid off, my Nephew too. After five months of looking for work I happened upon a good job working for a Chiropractor in Santa Cruz a few miles from our home. For Michael it took seven months to find a job again, this with a 24/7 search learning along the way how to play the game. He worked for a Company called Quick Silver in South San Jose. Only a few months later Quick Silver lost it's Venture Capital Funding so all but the few who started the company lost their jobs. Uncertain times it was hard to try and keep positive, we could not go another seven plus months... A little piece of an upward shift came our way, after only a couple long months Michael is now employed with a company called VMWARE they make virtual software. He is a technical support engineer. It is a pretty good job but his days and commute are long.
I am still at Dr Frogley's, a better shift, working as Office Manager, and my family and I get great Chiropractic care. Justin is in his second year of College, and Travis his second year of High School. Our cats and fish are doing great. We really love living by the sea, it is so beautiful here. A very down to earth artsy, hippie town culture, so needless to say we fit right in.
Our goals are to see our sons through College, and into careers they will love, and hopefully lives fulfilled with their dreams, desires, and ambitions.
Someday when there are more hours in the day, Michael will most likely start making jewelry and furniture again. I hope not too far off in the future he will have a studio and can go back to doing what is in his soul. I would like to then travel up and down the coast getting his work in shops on consignment.
As for me I do not yet know for sure who I really am or why I am here? But for this first 45 years I am glad I have had my family, my friends, my animals, and my life. Who knows maybe you are never really suppose to find the answer, other wise you wouldn't have a reason to look forward to the next 45 years.