Widow's Voice

The Story of a Photo

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I happened to be going through some old photos and stumbled on one from when we first moved to Oregon. It’s funny how images can act as little time travel devices sometimes, putting you right back to the moment it was taken.

The year was 2007. Hard to believe that was now 18 years ago. I swear, the older I get, the less time (and the passage of it) makes sense. It was July and I had spent the last 4 months painstakingly organizing and packing up the contents of our 1 bedroom apartment to make the 832 mile journey to the new home we just had just closed on.

If ever there was a “new chapter” about to start, this was definitely it.

We did hire professional movers, so they showed up early in the day. I had moved all boxes into the living room. The movers collected what little furniture we had and all the boxes and they were underway, set to meet us at our new address in 7 days.

Meanwhile, my parents had driven up from San Diego to join in the caravan. We elected to pack my small SUV and my parents car with important things, such as our computers (which we’d need right away for work), paperwork, some collectables and really breakable things we just didn’t trust to the moving company. It was more than I really expected and both our vehicles were pretty weighted down.

We were also traveling with our cat, who was not jazzed about everything going on.

We finally got underway in the early afternoon. Mario offered to drive first while I had cat duty. I felt really bad for her because she was pretty woozy and car sick the entire way. I did my best to comfort her by having her on my lap and giving her pets while we fought our way through about 4 hours of Los Angeles traffic before finally getting to the pass that would drop us down on the I-5 through central California.

We all pulled over at to just get out and walk around and have a snack at about the 5 hour mark.

We had made a hotel reservation around the Sacramento area for the night. Originally, we figured it would probably be about an 8 hour drive. Because of all the traffic, it ended up being a 12 hour drive.

Mario had to tap out around the 8 hour mark. My dad was somehow able to do the entire 12 hours following behind us. So I took over for the last 4 hours it took to reach the hotel. I don’t know who was more wiped out by the end of it, me or our cat, but I was to that point where you have to keep slapping yourself in the face to stay alert.

I think we all slept like rocks that night. It was quite possibly the most exhausting drive I’d ever done, but in the morning, I was ready to go by 8am because we would officially arrive at our new house later that day and that was exciting.

Our kitty also had a better day, and the second part of the drive was nothing like that first. We were past Sacramento and the traffic dissipated a lot. Within about an hour or two, it also got a lot more scenic as we hit Red Bluff, Redding, Shasta, and then Yreka.

We decided to pull off in Yreka and get some gas and something to eat.

view is from inside a parked car of a man eating a sandwich and another man sitting on some steps

My mom snapped this photo of Mario and my dad at that stop. Much like how much time has passed since this photo has taken, it’s a little hard for me to believe that both of these guys are gone now. The photo brings everything about this day right back into crystal clarity.

It wasn’t much further to the Oregon state line and my mom phoned us and said to pull over at the “Welcome to Oregon” sign so she could take another photo.

A green SUV by the Welcome to Oregon sign on the freeway

That was also kind of the moment where we knew we were really leaving our home state behind and starting a new life in a new state.

About 2 and half hours later, we pulled into our driveway of our first home.

A lot has happened in those 18 years since, but I’ll always hold on to those memories of those 2 days and the start of that new chapter.

About Sherry Holub

I met my spouse, Mario, at UCLA School of Art in 1993. After graduating in 1995, I founded a small agency specializing in web and graphic design. Mario became my partner in the company in 1999. In 2002, we were married at the Costa Mesa, CA court house because neither of us wanted a big wedding ceremony (after already being together since 1995).

Mario was a highly talented artist, musician, illustrator and 3D Designer, but a tortured one. He was one of those gentle, creative souls who ended up burning twice as bright for half as long. Mario lost the battle with liver disease induced by alcoholism (almost exactly 6 months after he became sober) on 2/10/21.

I’m a long-time artist and writer with a background in photography who enjoys cooking, getting outdoors, staying young at heart, and sharing experiences to potentially help others. When it comes to writing, I’ve written both for fun and professionally over the years. Writing is also sometimes therapy for me and I don’t mind sharing my personal experiences with a wider audience.