Adventures of a Hometown Girl in Fair Oaks: Chapter 1

So, what’s a single gal in her late 30’s doing writing a blog on Fair Oaks Patch?! Well, I’m proud to call Fair Oaks my home. I’ve seen a lot of changes in this lil ol' corner of the world and who else would be a better person to write about it, but me? I hope I won't bore you to tears, but if I do, it’s okay because by default, I love where I live!

I remember ice blocking in Montview Park, getting in trouble for sneaking into the kiddy walk on a dare at (yeah, I got suspended for that one), celebrating Mother’s Days at the Slocum House before the bittersweet news it had closed its doors to business last year and worked at Home Express before stores like Bed, Bath & Beyond started sprouting up all over the place. Anytime I see something new or a business be replaced with something else, I’m reminded of a certain David Bowie song.

I’ve lived here since 1986. Being the kid of a single parent, my mother was looking for a place she felt she could call “home” and a safe neighborhood to raise her two kids. I’m proud to say I’ve been both a Mustang and a Cougar. Will Rogers was my middle school and was my high school. You may have heard of some of our DCHS alumni like Laura and , Dusty Baker and just to name a few.  

Last night I’m listening to some old school country (there was yodeling and I swear I heard Willie Nelson in there too) at the Thursday night Fair Oaks Summer Concerts in the Park Series sponsored by our local and it dawns on me: I’m with a group of friends that graduated almost 20 years to the day with me. We all have different stories but the comfort level will always be the same. We don’t have to explain the history of certain stories because all of us were here and we all have similar experiences like the ones I listed above. Simply, we’re just a few kids from the ‘hood.

This is the reason I’m supposed to write this blog. We’re chatting away about both things that we’re facing as adults (I still can’t believe some sitting with me have children of their own already in college!) laughing over childhood memories (so maybe I didn’t make the best decisions with my fashion sense as a teenage girl), deciding if it’s a good idea to take that call from Mom right then and there (because Moms always have something to share) and worrying about the kids chasing the chickens out fear of them retaliating. When the heck did this “growing up” thing happen?

So, what is a single gal in her late 30’s writing a blog on the Fair Oaks Patch website?! It’s because my roots are as deep as some of our oldest and most beautifully aging oak trees in a town I call home. If you have deep roots here in Fair Oaks or have just started growing your own, would love to have you share your stories by making a comment below. Hope you’ll come back for more!

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