Part 4: New Jersey to California via Florida
Lake Hiawatha, NJ: I buy a small cape-cod house, summer 1978
It is not the house I want, but the one I can afford. I’ve broken up with Adrian and I’m seeing a married guy I work with. He helps me decorate the house. A nephew paints the porch. I creosote wood for the back fence and learn how to take care of the humidifier in the creepy basement. Blixy has a good friend and likes school. She still visits her friend Patty in Newfield and Patty visits us. I start a publishing business and quit my job. I break up with the married guy and start seeing Adrian again.
Sterling, NJ: big rambling house, summer 1981
Adrian and I buy this house to get married in. His mother, who has Alzheimer’s, her caretaker and the caretaker’s teenage daughter will live with us. My publishing business will operate in the finished basement. We have a sunroom made into a bedroom for Blixy. One of Adrian’s four sons is with us just for the summer before he goes off to college. Another comes to stay and work in my business. When I go food shopping, I fill two carts, and feeding everyone at the big table at dinnertime reminds me of dinner with my family when there were eight of us.
Bridgewater, NJ: townhouse rental, fall 1983
That big house with all its togetherness didn’t work for Adrian’s mother, or for any of us, really, so we move her back to Metuchen, where she had been living with the caretaker in a house Adrian owned. We finally sell the big house at a loss—mortgage interest rates are 15%--and rent a three-bedroom townhouse, but Adrian goes off to Florida with a problem son for several months. I rent office space for my business until it goes bust and I have to file for bankruptcy again. Blixy takes night classes and applies to college.
Melbourne Beach, FL: 3 bedroom condo rental on the beach, summer 1984
We watch the waves through a wall of glass overlooking the ocean in a beautiful third floor condo. At night the sea turtles lay their eggs. Adrian windsurfs and learns clamming. I work on an introductory computer book I have a contract to write. I start painting again. Blixy spends the summer with us on her break from Ithaca College.
Melbourne, FL: small apartment, summer 1985
We move to this apartment to cut expenses. I use the living room as my painting studio. My publisher says it is too late to market an introductory computer book, but I get freelance writing work from a friend at Economics Press. Adrian and his oldest son decide to sell their home-heating-oil business in NJ, which is not doing well. My parents live nearby and drop in often. Adrian and I play a lot of tennis.
San Diego, CA: house rental, 1986
Adrian’s mother has died and his business has been sold, so we can live anywhere we want to. We pick San Diego. This house has a swimming pool and a hot tub, so we spend a lot of time outdoors. I use one bedroom as my painting studio and start to show my work at the San Diego Art Institute. Adrian takes classes in Calculus and Physics at San Diego State. I take one in creative writing.
El Cajon, CA: house purchase, 1987
This renovated ranch house is just east of San Diego. I make the formal living room into my art studio. We play ping-pong on the deck and swim nude in the pool. At dusk we have a glass of wine and watch the sun set. Lots of relatives visit. I get an MA in Creative Writing and teach composition part-time in the local community colleges. The problem son lives with us for a short while. Blixy graduates from Ithaca College and gets married at the end of the summer to her best friend Patty’s older brother.
