Monday, March 16, 2009

Places I've Lived: Asheville, NC


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Just to catch you up, I lost my job in SC in April of 2004. Sarah and I had been dating for about a month. She lost her job a month after that. Consequently, we spent a lot of time together that summer. I burned up the roads between SC and NC. A couple from Sarah's church allowed me to use their garage apartment. They basically said it was mine anytime I needed it. I spent most every weekend up there during that summer. Eventually it was decided that I would move to Asheville and look for a job there.
I looked at many apartments and even found one that was a frontrunner but then I happened upon a sign for mobile home. After I saw it, I knew it was the one. It wasn't new but it was in good shape. It had 2 BRs, a laundry area and the landlord had just built a brand new porch. The best part of it was that it was located down a small lane on a beautiful piece of land. There were only about 10 mobile homes in this park and they were spaced pretty far apart. I could sit on my porch and view a hay field across the way. There was an apple tree in my front yard. It was shady and beautiful. I took it. Sarah and I actually made our first joint purchase for that home. We bought a porch swing and we loved it. I hated selling that when I moved to Seattle. I sold it to the lady across the street. I hope she's still enjoying it. It's unfortunate that Google Street View doesn't cover Apple Blossom Lane. It was a nice place to live.
Sarah and I both found jobs at the new A. C. Moore store that was opening. It's like Michael's only better. I worked as manager of recieving and she as classroom coordinator. It wasn't the greatest job in the world but we worked with nice people and it paid the bills. We spent time with friends, explored Asheville, ate (Asheville has a lot of good places to eat), made art (Sarah got me hooked on collage) and even participated in a theatre production. Unfortunately we knew that Asheville wasn't going to afford us opportunities to find a decent job. We loved Asheville but knew we'd have to leave if either of us wanted a career. I was unsure if I wanted to return to ministry. Sarah had thought about returning to teaching. She'd even put her teaching resume out online. That's when it happened.
Over the course of many months, Sarah began dialoguing with Taproot Theatre in Seattle. The opportunity fell thru once during the summer than came up again towards the end of the year. In January, Sarah flew to Seattle for an interview and by the end of February she left for NW. I stayed in Asheville to tie up some loose ends and joined her in June.
Next: Seattle.

1 comment:

becca said...

Just in case I haven't said it, I've thoroughly enjoyed the 'Places I've lived' posts.
Thanks for the trip through time.