We’re going home … going back.  By July of this year, my husband and I will have uprooted from the Westside of our state to the Eastside …. home for me.

My mom’s health is calling us back.  And we’re ready.  Small towns, rural living, long commutes that mean actually driving … at the speed limit, even … rather than sucking in the fumes of a sea of cars frozen in front of us.

It’s strange of course, to return to the place where I spent my teen years thinking of little other than leaving. For several years now, we’ve made “back home” our vacation spot, each time finding it harder to go back to the city.  Some things on the Westside will be hard to leave of course, but we’re ready.

The pictures below are from Colfax, WA, Whitman County’s seat.  It’s not where we’ll live, but where my mom is currently getting care.  As a kid, Colfax felt like the big city to me.  It still had a J.C. Penney, three or four drug stores, and was where I took my driver’s test.  It was terrifying to have to drive guided by stop lights rather than stop signs and where more than one lane of traffic was moving the same direction. And of course, the dreaded parallel parking.  My high school driver’s ed teacher (yes, I’m so old that we still had drivers ed in school) had no “city” curbs or stop lights to his avail.

Colfax was home of my first “Teen Burger” (although I always liked the “Mama Burger” best) and frothy root beer at the A&W, now a Zips. The town was host to county basketball tournaments, so a hub of excitement for all the area teens from tiny rural schools who could now gather in one place and gawk at each other.  And it boasted the country library which commissioned its Bookmobile to the area farm communities.  There was no greater excitement in my life than seeing the Bookmobile cruise into town.  I always had at least one book on order … it was Christmas on wheels for me!

In mid-March, a text from my brother shifted my focus to Colfax. Mom was in the hospital there.  We thought it would be a quick visit to address a blood pressure issue. It turned out more serious, and she’s still there, now in a rehab and skilled nursing center … still with plans to bring her back home when I move back.

So, in the last five weeks, I’ve spent maybe as much time in Colfax as added up during my all of my high school years.  There’s only one drug store now, and the JC Penney building sits vacant as do more store fronts than one likes to admit.   But Eddie’s, the Chinese Restaurant, is still there, and the local flower shop and the library. There are antique and collectible stores, including my new favorite, Bully for You.

My hangout became Fonk’s Coffee Shop.  It used to be home to Fonk’s Drugstore, but has been fashionably refurbished into a cute eatery.  (Be sure to check out the picture of its bathroom in the photos below … if you ever go there, you MUST ask to use the restroom.  Same with the floral shop … I told them they should offer a tour of the town’s restrooms because they’re pretty incredible. Just wish I had taken more and better pictures.)

So … in that first week that Mom was in the hospital, I escaped to Fonks a few times, contemplating what used to be, while dreaming of what is to come in our soon-to-be-upon-us new life.  It’s a crazy life … but one filled with anticipation for me … moving back to move forward.  Bring it on!

Hospital in Colfax WA
I didn’t even know this building existed when I was a kid. Now the location of ghost tours, this building spawned from the dream of nuns who came to the area to care for the sick. (St. Ignatius Hospital)

Coffee Shop in Colfax, WA

Colfax, WA
Inside Fonk’s Coffee Shop

Downtown Colfax

Fonks Bathroom
Coffee Shop Bathroom. Almost bigger than the shop itself.  Wish I’d taken a full picture of the bureau to the right. It came out of the Davenport Hotel in Spokane.

Colfax, WA Catholic Church

Of all the “finds” in Colfax … this stature in front one of the town’s churches put all the messages bubbling in my heart into perspective.  This centuries’ old event speaks of my past and dictates my future.  Wherever I go, whatever I am tasked to do, whichever season of life … the love of God reaches out and carries me. I am grateful.

Thanks for stopping by to read.  Your “likes,” “comments,” and “follows” help me to grow my readership and community.  Thanks for using links and giving credit when you share. I appreciate you and am thrilled to have you along!  – Shelly

Note: I use a free blogging site, so the advertisements are part of the territory.  I don’t see the ads you do, so just know that they are not necessarily things I endorse.  =] 
ABOUT THE PHOTOS ON MY SITE:  ALL PHOTOS ON RASHELLBUD, UNLESS NOTED, ARE MY OWN. THE HEADING THIS TIME WAS AN ACCIDENTAL PHOTO OF ST. IGNATIUS HOSPITAL IN COLFAX, WA.  THE SETTINGS ON MY CAMERA WERE ALL GOOFED UP, AND I ALMOST TOSSED IT OUT.  BUT … A FEW EDITS, AND I RATHER LIKE THE RESULTS.

 

 

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