Moving back to Oregon

In 2003, we decided to move back to my home state and open a cabinet shop.  It had always been a  dream of my husbands to go into business for himself.  When he was just out of high school he had worked a few years in a cabinet shop in Redding, CA and really wanted to do something similar for himself.  After turning wrench for almost 11 years, he was ready to live his dream.  We sold our house and relocated our family.

I was happy to be back in my stomping grounds, so to speak, and it definitely proved to be a viable opportunity for us to start our own business.  The construction industry was booming and it was much simpler to obtain a contractors license in Oregon rather than California.  We officially opened for business on January 14, 2004 and hit the ground running.

For almost three years there was no stopping us.  We were pulling in a decent income finally, and had a crew of five employees that worked in the shop.  As hectic as it was most days, it was very rewarding knowing that we had done it! Then, almost as quickly as it started for us, it ended.  The economy turned abruptly and we found the general contractors we had contracts with losing their funding/ investors, filing bankruptcy and we were the last, as a small subcontractor, holding the bag,....we had thousands and thousands of dollars wrapped up in purchased material, finished product and outstanding invoices.  We weren't able to recoup and ended up having to liquidate what we had left to just support ourselves.  We were devastated to say the least.

It all started here,...

It was the end of 1994 when my first husband was diagnosed and subsequently passed away from pancreatic cancer when I was just 24 years old. Being left with very little, I had to return to work to support my, then, 5 year old son.  I went to work at an international mail order company working in their payroll department and it was there that I met and befriended Evelyn.  She was a dynamic woman that I was instantly drawn to and we spent so many hours just sitting at the kitchen table visiting.It was after several months of our working together and friendship that she informally introduced me to her son, who was living in small northern California town, about a three hour drive from my home in Southern Oregon.  We proceeded to develop a long distance relationship, getting to know each other over the phone with a few weekend visits in between.  He was phenomenal with my little boy, taking him to do "boy things" and presenting himself to be a positive role model for my son. We married in December of 1996 and its been an incredible ride ever since. My little boy is now a handsome 6'2" man of 21 that is int he midst of his junior year at the University of Oregon.  Mitch and I also have a daughter, Shelby, who is a freshman in high school. I couldn't be more proud of my family and what it represents,.....