Homes Past

I reflect sometimes on the houses that I have lived in and wonder what goes on in them now, how the occupants use and consider their abodes, what changes have been made.

The little brown house was not as well constructed as my grandmother’s house but when I last saw it (during the year of the Strand reunion and my high school class fiftieth reunion [1988]) it looked very neat and well cared for. Several years ago when we visited the Midwest, Vincent had arranged for us to see the inside of the little brown house (which was now white). We saw the downstairs rooms and I was struck at how small they seemed. We did not see the basement or the upstairs.

Grandmother’s house was better built and could stand another hundred years with proper maintenance. But it was not been kindly treated since sold and it has been reported to me that it stands neglected and perhaps empty. I have no specific remembrance of the last time I left each house for good perhaps for the last time.

I sort of recall leaving 411 Bonnie Drive; the movers had finished packing and we walked out to start the drive to Houston. On our trips to the Bay Area since then we have occasionally driven by the look at it. For a long time it appeared that only nominal attention had been given to the exterior and the bushes and shrubs. But lately it has been spruced up a bit.

I still feel that it was a mistake to move to Houston, although Jean and the two older girls do not regret the experience. I’m not sure how Laurel feels about it. We had lived in the house for 19 y had had an interview with Bechtel but I had not heard from them. Actually the interview was after I had told Shell that I was going to Houston. Maybe they checked with Shell who told them I was going to Houston.

The way I look at it now I could have got a job as a chemist doing routine work that would have met our living expenses. Perhaps at one of the refineries in the north Bay Area. Or if not Bechtel with my background in design of distillation equipment I could have got work at Chevron or Union Oil. Or I could have taken some courses that would have qualified me as a bookkeeper — I had had in high school a class in bookkeeping and I liked it.

Financially also it might well have been advantageous to stay in El Cerrito. I would have received $1000 a year for ten years as severance pay. The increase in value of the property would have been more than the increase on 1070 Terra by far. We could have moved eventually to Auburn, a town that I much liked (even more than Ashland). Our life could certainly been different.