Well, after enrolling Mary in the last few weeks of school and joining a parish, we were on a roll.  Already, we felt like we belonged here.  We met some of the neighbors and people were friendly and helped us get acclimated.  We found out where the public library was located and went the next Saturday.

The librarian was so nice and helped us get started with new library cards.  Yet again we felt welcomed and from then on we went to the library every Saturday.  I made a list of all the books we took out so we would be able to remember the titles and how many we borrowed.  The children’s books were easily read in a week, so we returned them the following Saturday.  Ollie and I also took books out.  This was encouraged.  We found out that the circulation of library materials determined how much money the library received to buy new books.  So we let the kids take out as many as they wanted.

On Sunday, after church, we went places together.  There were so many places we could go that didn’t cost money.  I would make and pack a lunch and we would choose a destination.  Sometimes it was a beach.  Other times we found interesting historical sites to explore.  It really didn’t matter what we did.   We enjoyed going out as a family and just being together.  It was amazing how many places we could go for free.

Having a routine and knowing that we were going places together made the weekends something fun that we anticipated.  Anticipation is like that.  They were activities we enjoyed all the more because we could count on having family time every weekend.  This was important because we were far away from friends and family back home in Indiana.  California was where we lived now.  And we would be finding our place in this new community.  We had begun to make a good start in this endeavor.  Duarte was our home now.

Well, after getting Mary into school, the next thing we needed to do was find a church.  We had decided that if the first one didn’t feel right, we would go to the next one.  The closest was located in Monrovia, the next city over from Duarte.  So, off to Immaculate Conception Church we went.  They referred to the church as I. C. and it was a pretty large one.  We found out the times for services and there were 7 masses each weekend!  Two of them were in Spanish, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.  We decided to go to the second mass (in English) on Sunday.

The pews were situated in the shape of a cross with the widest and longest set of pews straight out from the altar.  The other two sets of pews were perpendicular going out on each side of the altar.

When we arrived for the first time, we sat in the front row on the west (left) side of the church.  We were early and very few people were there.  We sat, prayed and waited for the congregation to arrive.  Then mass began, slightly late.

Afterward, we mingled with the rest of the congregation.  Everyone was so friendly and welcoming!  Fiesta was in 2 weeks and they signed us up to work at the Coke booth.  It was a three-day, major fundraiser for the church and school.   This was an annual event with food booths, game booths, bingo in the gym and carnival rides.  The kids were so excited and we already felt like this was our family.  We were welcomed by so many people.  There were many parishioners from Mexico and the Philippines in the parish.  The food booths included ethnic foods but of course there were hamburgers, hot dogs, sausages etc. As we got into our car to leave for home, I realized that we had just attended our first church service and we had found home.

One of the first things we needed to do was visit the school.  Back home, the school year had ended.  But here, In the city of Duarte, there were 2 more weeks to go.  So we enrolled Mary into the 1st grade for the remainder of the semester at Valley View Elementary. The school was very different from the one Mary had attended in Indiana.  It consisted of single story buildings.  Each one had 2 or 3 classrooms, all with doors going directly outside. There was a canopy outside of the classrooms providing shelter if it rained.  (It rarely did.)  The rows of classrooms were situated in outward directions, like sun rays in the shape of an arc off of the Cafetorium.  The Cafetorium was a dual-purpose building that housed a cafeteria with a stage at the back of the room.  Outside of the building there was also an area with picnic tables for the students to sit at during lunch.

Everyone was friendly to us wherever we went in Duarte.  We just knew that this was going to be a great community for us to live in.  The next day Mary, Seth and I walked to school.  It was a good thing I had allowed a lot of time to get there because I hadn’t paid attention on the drive the day before.  There were cul-de-sacs everywhere and it took awhile to find our way to the street that would bring us to the school.  Once there, we found our way to Mary’s classroom.  We went in to meet her teacher, who welcomed Mary at the door.  Mary walked into the classroom with her new teacher with a big smile on her face.  Then Seth and I walked home.  This was the beginning of many “first days” in our new life.

When we arrived at the house my husband had rented, I was so very happy and excited.  It was just the perfect size with 3 bedrooms and a fenced in backyard for them to play in.  It was also in a great neighborhood.  Ollie had found the school where Mary and Seth would attend and it was within walking distance.  He had walked over and said that the students were just lined up after recess and it looked like the Coke commercial with all the different races of children in a big circle.  It was a very diverse group of kids and it made me so happy to know that they would be going there.  He sure had found the best place for us to live.

The first day we were there, Ollie went back to work and I began to unpack.  The kids wanted to take a walk around the block and I said okay, and told them to come right back.  They went out the door, holding hands, as they always did. I watched them leave and then I went to work on the job at hand and became totally engrossed in the process.  

As time went by and I realized they weren’t back yet, I began to worry.  They should have been home by now.  I ran outside and looked in the direction they should be coming from and didn’t see them.  In a panic, I ran that way down the street and saw that the distance was much, much farther away than I had thought.  But before my panic could get worse, I saw them in the distance, still holding hands, coming around the corner.  Turns out the block was the equivalent of 6 blocks in our old neighborhood.  But there they were, coming home from their first adventure.  They were totally fine, smiling and walking in our new neighborhood, back to the house we would call home.

In 1982, our family moved to California because new construction was at a standstill.  My husband did finish carpentry at the time and he had just been paid for a large job.  But there were no new jobs to bid on and it wasn’t at all certain if the economy would change very soon.  One thing was for sure.  If there were no jobs now, we no longer had an income.  We had to decide if we could wait it out.  We didn’t have to think very hard about it.  We needed to move.

We had a friend who lived in Southern California who would let him sleep on her couch so he could look for a job.  Within less than a week, he had 3 job offers and started a new job 1 week after arriving.  It was not the same kind of job, but he had other talents and became an electrical estimator for a family-owned business.  Then, he found a place for us to live.  In the meantime I had to get everything ready to go, rent the house, pack all of our things, rent a moving van and fill it with all our belongings.

People came out of the woodwork to help me and we were able to leave in the van I had rented as soon as he arrived home.  It was the first day of an adventure, to say the least.  Our daughter Mary was almost 7 and our son Seth was 5.  All 4 of us were tightly packed into the front seat of a Ryder truck that was full of all our belongings.

And we took off, full of excitement and also some sadness because we were leaving our families behind.  But we had to be positive and look forward.  We were going to Southern California where our home would be for the next 7 years.