On the Job-Stanford

Our little motel room was a good staging point in our search for Stanford rental prospects.   We were eating “in” to conserve the few funds we had.  Warming coffee water or soup on an electric iron positioned upside down was one creative approach to fine dinning.  I haven’t been able to eat sandwich spread on bread since those days.  We had the room rented for three days and that left us one more day to secure a rentalWe had taken our time on the drive back enjoying the swing through Yellowstone Park and getting to know each other better.  Once the job started our lives would be full of activity and less of home life.  When we pulled in to Stanford and parked by a grocery store Marie ducked her head.  She didn’t want to be seen by someone walking by.  It turned out it was a fellow she knew in Saint John.  Call that a small world “happening”; we had just arrived hundreds of miles from Saint John and there he was.  I didn’t know why she didn’t want him to see her.  A lot of people would have been out there flagging him down as a kindred soul in this far away land.  I didn’t ask and it never came up.

A Stanford Home

This was our lucky day.  We got a lead on a large old house close to the schools that had apartments for rent.  We found there was only one unrented apartment left and it was a modification of a large enclosed porch and kitchen area. The porch area was converted into a living room and bedroom with a hid-a-bed sofa.  The enclosed porch was all windows, so it had nice light, but little privacy.  It was just a short walk to the grade school and the price was right, so considering the time limit on our search for a home we took it.  The furnishings were minimal but adequate for us as a start.  We paid a months rent in advance and picked up the key. After unloaded everything we started organizing our space.  Marie hung sheets over windows in the bedroom area, but we still had to turn off lights for total privacy.  As we finalized the apartment decoration it beginning to look like a home with personal items distributed around.  We were happy with it.

* Taken from "Which Road Should I Follow?, Volume 2, Roles and Responsibilities of an Educator", an autobiography by Edwin K. Hill.