Just a little over three and a half years ago, Dave and I were living in Murrieta, CA (Temecula wine country) and decided to take a road trip up to Napa with our then 6 month old daughter. Who knew that this little trip would change the trajectory of our lives completely?
We were a double income family, living rent free with my mother-in-law who ran a family owned Japanese restaurant, easily spending $5000 monthly and saving the same amount or more each month. We had it good. Free rent, free sushi.
Some might say we were pretty set, living the good life – which we were. Dave was managing the restaurant, singing on the weekends at local wineries with our family band, working part time as a lab tech at a winery, and I was working full time as a family nurse practitioner. We lived in a gated community in a 3500 square foot home with plenty of extended family within driving distance.
Find a passion.
Dave had an interest in craft beer and was introduced to home brewing by a good friend, Pasadena neighbor, fellow grad student and photoblogger (Ben Wideman) during our time in grad school. It was only when our band, Dave and the Cousins, started performing at local wineries that he began to develop an affinity to wine. Free wine during performances will do that. Dave began volunteering at Temecula Valley Winery Management Company, the company that produces wines for Leoness Cellars and Crush and Brew, which were regular performance venues for Dave. This turned into a part time job as a lab tech.
Get inspired.
In January of 2014, we set off for a 3 day trip to Napa and fell in love with the art and science of winemaking. Dave had toyed with the idea of becoming a winemaker for the last few months leading up to the trip, getting glimpses of what it takes from boss and Leoness winemaker Tim Kramer. On our last night in Napa, our daughter Olivia was sound asleep in her play pen while the two of us lay wide awake – Dave had tossed out this crazy idea that we would quit both our jobs and leave our families to pursue this dream… and it may have been the long hours on the road, the wine, the ambience of the vineyards, but I was crazy enough to think LET’S DO IT!
Quit your job.
In just 5 short months, we had done it. We quit our jobs and left our friends and family to move to Corvallis, Oregon… site unseen, by the way. That drive in from the I-5 on the 34W may have been one of the longest drives of our lives, looking at this huge stretch of farmland with equal doses of anticipation and terror. Dave had not yet been accepted into Oregon State University’s Enology & Viticulture program yet – he still needed to take his pre reqs at Linn Benton Community College – but we took a leap of faith and three years later here we are.
Throw in some babies into the mix.
I might mention I was four weeks pregnant with our youngest daughter Adeline when we drove up to Oregon with our 9 month old and had no idea.
Jump right in!
Dave needs to wait a full year to finish up a couple classes that are offered next spring of 2018 to graduate. So during this 9 month hiatus, he took up a five month long vineyard and cellar internship at Stoller Family Estate in Dayton, OR. Because of the long work hours and concern for safety, we decided it’d be best that he stay at their intern house and the girls and I stay in Corvallis to hold down the fort. With a week left before his internship began, we found out that I was pregnant again with our third child.
If Dave had told me 10 years ago while tying the knot (our tenth wedding anniversary is approaching this year) that I’d be single parenting intermittently for 5 months with two young children and another on the way while working 30 hours a week, I probably would’ve walked away – but it’s a strange thing what love, marriage, and raising a family does to realign values and priorities.
So today, after summing up the last three and a half years of our lives in a nutshell, I write this as the girls are napping and Dave is finishing up his week of work on the vineyard to drive home today to join us for the weekend. From dating in Vancouver, Canada, to newlyweds in Southern California, to a growing family in Oregon, we’ve come to love the west coast and specifically what the beautiful state of Oregon has to offer. Home is a relative term for us and I’ve concluded with all this moving around that home is where Dave is and I’m sure he’d say the same about me.
To be continued…
I hope to eventually share with you the happy ending of how Dave becomes a winemaker in Oregon (that our sudden upheaval of our lives wasn’t for nothing) and the crazy things we sign ourselves up for to get us there – hopefully one day owning a winery of our own.
