In pursuit of the dream

Still wanting to pursue the dream, we decided to plant fruit trees along the property line, so that they could become established while we were working toward the goal of someday building a home there.  (See the First Presidency Message for January:  The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago!)

So in between 1981 and 1982 we put in a water line so we could plant and water trees.  This entailed getting a permit from the City of Lemon Grove.  I also had to pay what I thought was a significant amount of money to Helix Water District for a water meter.  I think I paid about $300, if I remember correctly.

We would take the family over to work on the trees on Saturdays.  One Saturday in 1983 we drove over to work in the blue Dodge work van.  Alan was an infant, and Kathy had him in his car seat, secured in the front passenger seat with a seat belt.  The van was parked at the top of the hill, at the southwest corner of our property.  We were working on the other side of the lot, weeding, watering trees, maybe even planting.  I looked up to see the van begin to roll down the hill.  I frantically ran toward the van, not realizing that there was nothing I could do to stop it without perhaps getting run over.  But that is a mute point, because I couldn't run fast enough to reach the van before it rolled past me.  It crossed the road and took out a section of the neighbor's fence and their mailbox.  It continued across their driveway and rolled off their bank to their lower pad, where it took out one leg of their lattice-covered parking structure before rolling over the next bank and coming to a stop when it ran into a tree.  When I arrived, the van was stopped, and fortunately the passengers were unharmed.  Eric, then a toddler, was in the driver's seat.  Apparently he managed to release the parking brake, and had jiggled the gear shift lever enough to pull it out of "Park", which allowed gravity to do what it does best.

I spent some time the following week repairing a fence, a mailbox, a parking structure, and a damaged part of the power steering system.  All-in-all, the property damage was minimal, and bodily injury was insignificant.

As the years passed, I kept thinking how my dad built his "dream house" too late for the family to live in it.  When the house was complete, I was just finishing High School and heading off to college.  My three older brothers had also left home.  So their "at home" family now would consist of my two younger sisters.  It was at this time that he was called to serve as the Mission President of the Mexico West Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  When they returned, only my youngest sister lived with them at home for several years before heading off to college.

I was afraid that might become my reality as well, if we didn't start building soon.