The Vagabond Thread

Discussion in 'Places I Have Lived' started by Yvonne Smith, Nov 30, 2015.

  1. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    In some of the other threads (such as the one about book collecting) it has been noticed (and mentioned) that several of us have moved around a lot, and @Sifu Phil Bonifonte mentioned that it was a good idea for a thread title.
    Naturally, being the sweet person that I am, I gave him a week or so to start that thread; but now he has missed his chance, and I am going to go ahead and start it for him.

    My Story:
    Although I grew up in the same old house in the same little town; once I left home and got married, life changed for me.
    My first husband worked linework construction, and the jobs could last a few days or a few months. We packed everything we had in the back of our 1963 Rambler American, and sometimes lived in it if the job was a short one.
    Usually we rented a cheap motel room for a weekly rate. Back then, that might only be $25 a week; so it was affordable, and usually came with a kitchenette, or at least a hot plate.
    Eventually, we moved less as we had a family, and he just worked away from home a lot; but even so, we still moved at least once or twice a year for the next twenty-some years.

    Even after we were divorced, it seemed like I was still moving for one reason or another, and finally came to terms with the idea that I was just a vagabond.
    I grew up in northern Idaho, and then also lived in Washington, Oregon, Missouri, and now , in Alabama. In all of those five states I have lived in many different towns and houses.
    Now, I live in my daughter's rental house here in Alabama. I want to stay here where I am close to her; and Bobby insists that he is never moving again, so maybe this will be my last move. Even so, I am trying not to collect too much stuff, just in case I did find that there is yet another move left in my life.

    I know I am not the only one who has moved around a lot, and I am sure that the rest of you vagabonds have interesting stories to share as well.
    Go for it......
     
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  2. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
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    Sorry, Yvonne, but I am the opposite of a vagabond. I am a "settled inhabitant"!;) I am living 40 miles from where I was born and raised and we have been here almost 40 years. You could say that I am not a potted plant.
     
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    Last edited: Feb 10, 2016
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  3. Mari North

    Mari North Veteran Member
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    I'll have to echo @Joe Riley 's answer. The hospital where I was born (I first typed "worn" there instead of "born"... Freudian? :) ) sits 5 miles from where I'm sitting right now. This wasn't my hometown, though.

    My daughter was born about 12 miles from here. Nope, no vagabond blood in me.. not a drop. :D

    I grew up (first 21 years) about 28 miles from where I was born. Then at 21 moved to a city that's 35-40 miles away and that's as far as I ever got. Moved next to the town of my birth and then to another house in that same town and *then* 11 years ago to where I am now, just a few miles from there in another small town.
     
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  4. Ina I. Wonder

    Ina I. Wonder Supreme Member
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    @Yvonne Smith , To me it looked like you and Bobby are pretty settled in, and for the long haul.

    I was born in San Fransico, CA, but we moved to Houston, TX by the time I was 11 months old. Back in the 50's men sometimes had to wear many hats. My father made a living farming, off shore shrimping, and welding, so we always lived outside of city limits. I remember that in the fifties there were a lot of work lay offs, and this caused our family's income fluctuated often. Because of this we moved often, and I have to say it was my mother's favorite way to clean house. This was the norm for me until I was about 18 and recieved my first cancer diagnosis. I got angry with the world, and decided that any place had to be better than flat Houston.

    I got into my car, filled the trunk with food, padded the back seat with blankets for the kids, (no car seats back then), and I took off for CA. We stayed at a couple of communes, (which were nothing like what I had heard about, no orgies or drugs), and I recieved some good counciling.

    After a few days, we traveled straight on up to Canada, but we were not allowed in, so remembering an invitation from one of the young commune members, and I headed straight across the country to Boston, MA, where I stayed for two years. I recieved good medical treatment there.

    During all this traveling I found I had a real attachment to our earth that I had never felt before. I grew quite a bit in that time frame, and then I decided I was strong enough to go back to Texas. At the age of 26 my world crashed again, cancer again, and my family started to fall apart again. That time I went to Colorado for a month just to be up in the moutains, and then I came back home to face whatever was to come.

    As you can see I made it, finally grew up and settled down, and my family has live in this old log cabin for over 26 years. When Big and Young Michael died in '14 of course I went nuts again, so I traveled to see Yvonne in Alabama last spring, and then in the fall I went back to Colorado, then on to California, and Nevada.

    For me there seems to be a healing that comes from contact with the this beautiful earth that our Creator set us on.

    I've also been to Canada and Mexico.
     
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  5. Tom Locke

    Tom Locke Veteran Member
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    I have both British and Irish passports, so that's a good start. I've lived in seven towns or cities in England, two in Scotland and one in Ireland. I've also lived and worked in Eritrea, Ghana and Ethiopia, so it's fair to say I've been quite itinerant. I've managed to notch up 46 countries in my travels, so I can probably admit to having had a wandering existence.
     
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