Cheri Comola:
CLASS OF 1967
Tahoe Truckee High SchoolClass of 1967
Truckee, CA
Cheri's Story
So I am supposed to tell you who I am and where I've been....................
Where I've been: In California until October of 2007 when I decided to relocate in Washington state. I went to college from 1983-1985 and got a BA in finance, and worked in County government for 25 years (Auditor, Accountant, Deputy Director of Human Services) in the Fresno area (yes, I hated it there, but things just worked out that way) and retired at 55, so have been very fortunate career-wise. Two marriages, two divorces; the second in 2007 after 34 years, so I am now happily single and enjoying living life on my own terms.
Now I live on the Kitsap Peninsula of Western Washington, which is similar in landscape to Truckee. The reason I was able to live in the CA Central Valley after growing up in such a beautiful place as Truckee was to always hang on to the dream of moving to someplace in the woods once I could retire. And that is exactly what I did! So now I have a house in the woods where I live with 4 rescue dogs, 2 cats and a steady stream of foster shelter dogs that I love to rehabilitate and shelter until they are ready for their adoptive home. And if I can find somebody I can afford to pay to do the prep work in the yard, next year I plan to get a little a chicken house and have a few chickens too! I had not planned on the second divorce but stuff happens, and so now I keep very busy just trying to maintain my "dream" retirement home on my own. Way too much house and property (1/2 acre) for a single, mobility impaired, female "of a certain age" (which anyone reading this already knows - the age, I mean!). Not that I'm complaining.....I am happier than I have been in years. I keep my "spare" time full with maintaining my home and garden and my animal companions, as well as working two days a week in a glass studio, where I've learned stained and fused glass. I make, and sometimes actually sell, stained and fused glass and also jewelry. I volunteer at an animal shelter, a National Cairn Terrier rescue and am an avid animal advocate, and also volunteer once a week in a nursing home, calling Bingo and monitoring a crazy game of Mexican Train!. I also spend a lot of time with my family: My mom (now 93) lives in the same town here, as do my sister, cousins, and niece so I don't ever have to worry about being alone. My dad passed in 2005 and my older brother, Mike, lives in CA near Alturas.
I have one son who is 33 and lives in CA, and have a 4 year old grandson named Nicholas, after my father.
I'm still relatively healthy for an old hippie of 67 and life is good. Health-wise I am hanging in there....Expand for more
Beginning at age 55 my joints began to deteriorate with osteoarthritis. By the time I got it diagnosed I had zero cartilage in my left knee and it had to be replaced. By the time it had healed and was as normal as a replaced knee can be, the other knee went too. After the second knee replacement I thought I was pretty bionic and done with all of that until about a year ago when the same thing happened in my left hip. It has now been replaced and I am getting around pretty darn well, all things considered. All this joint stuff has slowed me down considerably but I have been able to resume most of my normal activities. I love to work in my garden and walk in the woods with my dogs. I may not do them so quickly or as well as I used to but I still get by with a little help from my friends (and legal cannaibis!)
Personality-wise, I would describe myself as a political liberal, an agnostic, a lover of animals and nature and solitude. I hate killing anything for any reason (but will make exceptions for mosquitoes and flies!!). i have no tolerance for bigotry, racism or cruelty in another human. When asked for a reference about me by an animal shelter from which I was trying to adopt a dog, my best friend described me as, "a person who has an infinite love and compassion for animals, and not so much for humanity". That is probably pretty accurate and it also explains why I am alone by choice at this point in my life. Animals give you a lifetime of love and loyalty and only hurt you once, and that is only because they die way too soon. That is not to say that there aren't a whole bunch of people in the world (and already gone from it) who I love deeply and would do anything for! I am compassionate, ethical and kind but, overall, very sad, disillusioned and disappointed about human nature and the deplorable things we have done, and continue to do, with the beautiful world we inhabit and the other beings who inhabit it. So I do what little bit I can do to make things better and have built a lovely and safe refuge of love to surround myself with, here in the woods of western Washington. I have accomplished enough in my life to feel proud of what I've done and most of the choices I've made - So much so that I can't even come up with a "bucket list"! I was fortunate enough to be able to do some traveling and have seen enough of the world to not feel that I've missed anything I wanted to see, and I was able to do it when I, and the state of the world itself, were still healthy and safe. Now it is time to sit back and enjoy the life I've created with the people and pets I love and it is enough.
Register for Free to view all details!
Reunions
Register for Free to view all events!
Photos
Register for Free to view all photos!