MEDITATIONS ON HOME
Peter Bacho
For
me, California was always a place to visit – and that’s what I did from
1989 to
1996. I was a sojourner in California, first in San Francisco, where
the
congestion, the high costs of living and the city’s intolerable
smugness pushed
me west, to Sacramento, where the angry sounds on hot summer nights –
shotgun
blasts and sometimes fully automatic bursts – sealed my decision. Toss
in a
failing marriage and…
…in
1996, I went home, to Seattle, where my father and uncles are buried
and my
mother still lived. She was frail and aged and, I was convinced,
thinking of
joining them soon. Fourteen years later, Mom is still here. I’d like to
think
it’s because all of her kids are nearby. But maybe there’s more.
Lake
Washington and Puget Sound to the east and west of the city and beyond,
snow
capped peaks to the west and east. Such stunning vistas, especially on
cold and
clear December mornings.
When
I was young, our family was poor. But no matter. My parents and I would
savor
those sights that money couldn’t buy.
Peter
Bacho is the
author of five books: Cebu, Dark Blue Suit, Boxing in
Black and White, Nelson's Run, and his latest, Entrys.
His
books have received several awards, including the 1992 American Book
Award. He
is a writing professor at Evergreen State College. Bacho was
born in
Seattle, Washington in 1950 and grew up in Seattle’s
Central District.