{Captured} My story - Chapter 1

It is officially day one of vacation! School just ended yesterday and I was on a plane last night to visit my hometown to see my parents, family, and friends. It's especially important now that everyone wants to meet and see Brooklyn grow. It's also important to me that she see where I grew up and get to experience a little bit of what I did as a child. It's a different world here from Long Beach and Southern California.

While walking Brooklyn around the property this evening (because she is sick, overtired, and refusing to sleep), I thought to myself the value of "my story" and leaving a legacy. Not to sound morbid, but if anything were ever to happen to me...I would want her to know who I was. A bit of my history. Experiences. Opinions. I've always wondered so much about my parents and their life. If I could read their journals...I would (if they had one!). So, I ran inside and grabbed my camera and decided in that moment that I would start a series on my blog to share with her a bit of my story. This is for her! I welcome you to read it too but ultimately I'm convinced this blog is mine and ultimately want it to have value.

 

Welcome to 70th Avenue. The street I lived on for the majority of my life. I bet you don't see mailboxes like this in SoCal! It's actually pretty special. My mom's best friend Louella painted it. She past away many years ago but definitely never forgotten! What is so amazing about her, other than being a beautiful person, it that she was an artist. Her artwork is throughout my parents home. I think that is an awesome reminder of her and her presence is felt in the canvases on their walls. What's even more special is that my friend Cora is having a baby on (or near) October 1st. She got a chance to meet Louella's great grand daughter, with the same name, at my shower last year. It stuck with her and was reinforced when she went to a restaurant with the same name. Well, as it turns out...she is having a baby girl that will also me named Luella (same name, different spelling).

But back to 70th Avenue! It's in the boondocks, or what one might call "BFE". (If you don't know what that means, I'm not translating). It's absolutely beautiful...green, lush, secluded. However, I believe I was born to be a city dweller. As beautiful as it is, I dreamed of the day of living in the big city from the time I was young. For me, that was Seattle! I did actually live there for a few years during and after college. Ultimately Seattle and the PNW is too rainy, gloomy, and cold for my taste. It's nice to visit, but I'll leave the country living to my folks. And you know I was raised in the sticks, since I called my parents "folks". I feel like I have the best of both worlds since I get live in the sun in the city but visit here so often.

 

This is the home where I grew up! I actually wasn't born in this house but moved here in the first couple of years of my life. My dad and Uncle Darhl built it. My dad, who was a welder, of course...constructed the Avery sign.

 

Speaking of my dad and welding, he owned his own business and worked from his shop on our property. Leon's Welding and Steel Fabrication! I actually was so annoyed by his business because my friends would call and he would answer our home line with "Leons Welding and Steel Fabrication"...in his best "Leon" business voice. Too funny! Yet I remember it so vividly.

 

My mom loves bird houses and has them hanging throughout her garden and on the trees on their property. This is the only non bird like house that I've seen posted but loved it! How cool is this vintage camera? It got me to thinking how in so many ways I was destined to be a photographer. I never knew it. It was an organic discovery and in retrospect I think to myself "duh"! There are so many different indicators throughout my life that lead me here today. My ridiculous number of photo albums in my bedroom growing up (before the digital age). The need to capture every moment. Teaching photography and film developing at Echo Glen, the juvenile detention facility I worked at in college. The hours I spent on photo collages and albums (before "scrapbooking" existed). The framed photos I have in my hallway of my trip to Europe in 1997. The resentment I felt that there were no pictures of me as a baby and young child. Correction: my mom caught wind of my resentment of no photos and dug up at least 20 photos of me as a baby and toddler. Photos I've never seen or never knew that were of me. I'll share them in a future posting. I was very excited to see these and compare them to what our little girl looks like!