Shannon Gammie:
CLASS OF 1989
Arroyo Grande High SchoolClass of 1989
Arroyo grande, CA
Shannon's Story
Not a very exciting story here, but here it is:
Just work work work for last 10 years or so. I did manage to make time to get married a couple of years ago to my wonderful husband, Gabe. We have been together for a long time, and he finally gave me an ultimatum of marrying him or splitting up..for some reason it was important to him we make it legal, and since he got me an awesome ring from Tiffany's who was I to say no?
I didn't want to get married in a church and really didn't want to spend money having a traditional wedding since we had been living together so long. (I was hardly a virgin walking down the isle). I tried to talk him into running off to Vegas to get married by Elvis, but he was appalled by the very idea. He actually wanted a more traditional wedding. Instead we compromised and got married in Maui with some family and friends attending (more than I thought would go actually). It was the perfect stress free way for us to get married and spend our honeymoon.
My husband is a therapist and was running the Rehab unit at Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks. I ran a very successful real estate business for about 13 years in Westlake Village up until about April of this year. The stress of working 14-16 hour days, 7 days a week started to get to me- hair falling out, weight gain etc.. I have been very lucky financially and made some great investments so we were in the position to make a life change. We started planning about 18 months ago to buy our dream property, and move out of the area. I was going to retire. Gabe has family in Oregon, and we really liked the area. In October of 2007 he was offered a great position at a hospital in Oregon. He took the job,while I remained in California wrapping up some of my business. I commuted back and forth during the week from So. Cal to Oregon. That grew old quickly. After 6 months I made the move to Oregon permenantly, and implemented my retirement plan.
My original plan on moving up here was to finish up my business, retire, and "find myself". I had worked so much in last 10 years I had no hobbies or interest outside of work and thought it would be great to reconnect with myself, and maybe think about starting a family (although I don't particualy like children). Unfortunately, my plan didn't quite work out that way. I was offered an opportunity I couldn't pass up in Central Oregon. I took a Director's position for one of the largest non-profit organizations...Expand for more
in the state which specializes in housing. So instead of a year off, I got about 3 weeks off before starting my new job in May of 08. I really like the job, and although it is long hours and a pressure filled position it isn't nearly as bad as running your own business.
We decided to settle here (Central Oregon), at least for a while. We are located about 45 minutes South of Eugene out in the country. (and I do mean way out in the country).
We recently purchased our dream property- 10 acres with a large new custom built home on it, 3000 sq. ft. shop, 1500 square foot garage, and guest house with panoramic views. All of this is located across the street from the river. Gabe loves the outdoors, and goes fishing about every weekend. We also like to go crabbing on the coast. He finally has his dream garage to store all his toys. I like the space, peace, quiet, privacy, and the ability to have animals.
In essence, we have a mini-ranch.......lots of chickens, dogs, goats, and we will probably get a horse or two soon.Next year we plan to start a garden.
Since we are living in Oregon, we are trying to be environmentally friendly. Lots of tree huggers here. I don't exactly fit in but my husband is from Bay area and embraces every tree he sees. We recycle, compost, and are looking into solar and wind power for energy.
So far so good, but definately a change of pace for us. Gabe loves it, and I like it but am still adjusting. Everything in Oregon moves slow, nothing is open past 6 pm during the week, and everyone takes the weekends off regardless (this is the strangest part for me). Plus I have to drive about an hour to get to a decent mall....good thing I shop on line a lot.
We still own a couple of homes down in Ventura County so if it doesn't work here, we can always move back. I highly doubt this will happen, but we kept our options open.
I guess you could say we are living our dream. We are looking to buy some additional acreage up here (I am going to land auction this week) and may start a winery in the next couple of years. Right now, we are just doing our research.
No kids yet (which is Okay by us). We figure if it happens it happens and if not, then it wasn't meant to be. At this point, I am not sure if I even want kids as we have a pretty good lifestyle and tend to be pretty selfish with our time and travels. I have never been a big kid person.
Anyways, I know its not very exciting but thats my story.
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