We moved there when I was about ten years old. We'd been living in Southern California, near Laguna Beach, when my Dad up and moved us to Sonoma County, where my mother's parents and siblings were. I remember the move quite well; the house-hunting, the disappointment when we didn't move into a house I liked, and how the real estate agent brought toys for my sister and me. I remember spending nights on my grandmother's couch while we looked for a place. I wonder what that was like for my parents? Now that I'm an adult, I realize that it must have been a time of stress and uncertainty.
We finally found a place, and I spent the best summer of my life there. My Dad had yet to find work, so we got up early in the mornings and went fishing at a local creek. Sebastopol was an apple-growing town, and I loved being surrounded by the orchards and playing in the dirt that the tractors turned up. The fun ended somewhat when I went to school in the fall, but the move ended up being a good one, and we stayed.
That was over thirty years ago now and my mother still lives in Sebastopol, albeit in a different house than that first one. It's changed a lot from the small farming community that it was in the 1970's when we moved there. Lots of expensive homes, boutique coffee houses and shops, and a thriving counter-culture. It's now considered part of the wine country that used to be mostly confined to Napa County, and many of the apple orchards now produce grapes. They still have the Apple Blossom Festival in April though.
At this point, I wonder if I'll move back there. I always assumed I would, but Seattle has been my adopted home for twenty years now. I ask myself if I intend to retire to Sebastopol, and I can't say for sure. Which place is my home? What will there be in Sebastopol for me after my mother is gone? At this point I don't know, and I still have plenty of time to decide. Whatever happens, a part of me will always call that place home.
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