Vicki Baum-Hommes and Neissa Rogene

00:00 This is Vicki. She is originally from New York, but currently resides in Florence, Massachusetts, with her husband and Kat. And she has one daughter who currently lives in Minneapolis. And today she'll be telling us a story of. Oh, my goodness. I think I deleted it.

00:26 Sorry. Do you want me to give it to you? Yes, please.

00:29 I think I.

00:30 So it's what? One thing in my life had a huge impact on my life trajectory.

00:36 Today, she'll be telling us the story of one event in her life that had a huge life trajectory. Trajectory. Yes.

00:46 Yeah. So, right before my senior year of high school, my parents decided to make this huge move. We lived on Long island in a very suburban, busy community. It's all I'd ever known was living on Long island since I've been born. And my dad at the time was commuting to a job in New Jersey and sitting in horrible traffic, going through New York City every day. And my mother was going some of the time with him, and it was very, very stressful, just not a sustainable lifestyle. And they must have so long ago. I don't remember all the details, but they must have gone on vacation up to the Berkshires of western Mass and just fallen in love with the area. And both of them, for the first time in their life, had started to do some craft hobbying. My dad was doing some wood carving. My mother was doing some sculpting and pottery. So they just all of a sudden had this dream that they were going to open a craft store in the Berkshires. And amazingly, when I look back, I think what a big deal it was. Now, they made it happen. So they sold their house. They bought a house in Otis, Massachusetts, which is this teeny little town. I don't know if this is true anymore. It was a long time ago, but at the time, I think it was like 800 residents in the winter and 8000 in the summer because they came up, because it was beautiful there. So we had acreage. We lived across from a lake. I did my senior year in high school up in, you know, western Massachusetts. Just everything different from anything I had done my entire life.

02:30 What are some things, do you think, that changed from the move?

02:35 Yeah. One was, I think, I became more academically motivated and focused. I think what happened is the school in Massachusetts just wasn't quite as rigorous as what I was used to. And it felt easy. And I got all these a's and then it was like, oh, I can do this, you know? So it motivated me through college. I was a super good student, and maybe I would have been, anyway? I don't know, but I feel like it just kind of kicked in my motivation. I also. Because here we had this craft shop, and we had a workshop next to it where my parents were making things, and then they were bringing things in on consignment from other artists. It motivated me to try some different things. So, you know, I tried pottery. You know, I just tried a variety of different things. And for a while, I thought of going to art school. I didn't end up doing that, but it was something I seriously considered. So it allowed me to explore the creative side of myself. And I think, obviously, it pushed me to make new friends, which is hard when you're 18 years old and you're leaving your best buddies. It's like that stage of life where it's really hard to leave friends, just like going to colleges. So it pushed me to make new friends. They were very different than the people that I had been friends with or grown up with. So it was eye opening for me. Also, I think, more than anything, it exposed me to nature in a way that I'd never been exposed to me. Nature was going to the beach for the day, you know, the ocean, because I lived close to it. And not that we never went away to pretty places, but this was every day of my life, you know, that I could walk into the woods and take a hike, and I could swim across the street in a lake. So I think it gave me a new appreciation of nature. That and being outside that I've maintained my whole life trying to think of what else. Well, a big one was I eventually met my future husband out there. So obviously, if I didn't meet him, I wouldn't have had the daughter. I have all of that. Just everything would have been different. I always wonder who I would have married to and what else.

04:57 Are you glad that your parents made the decision to move at such a pivotal age?

05:02 I really am. I really am. Yeah. I just think it changed everything. Mostly for the better, obviously. I can't know what my life would have looked like if I didn't do that. But I feel like most of the things that I can look at feel better. I'm grateful, you know, that I love nature. I'm grateful for the career path I followed, which may or may not have been the same. I'm grateful that I got in touch with that more academic side of myself. Yeah, I'm really grateful that they did it. And now I live in Massachusetts, and I love western Massachusetts. I can't imagine ever living on long Island. I still have family there, and I go back sometimes and it's crowded and there's terrible traffic. And I just think, yeah, I'm really glad I live here.

05:53 Did you ever, at any point.

05:58 Were.

05:59 Upset or didn't like living in western mass? Seeing how it's so different than New York?

06:05 Not that I remember. I imagine there were times that felt hard and challenging. Like before I made friends. You know, when it was very new. But overall, no. Surprisingly, when my parents made the decision, most people would ask me, didn't you hate that, leaving you're missing your senior year with all your friends? I think I just saw it as an adventure. Kind of like they did. Just this opportunity for something new and different. And in retrospect, I can see once you've settled in your life, that's a pretty courageous thing to do. It's not easy. I've never done anything like that in my adult life, know? So I give them credit. But I feel like they were role models for me. To be able to look at it as a positive experience and an adventure. So, yeah, no. No regrets. I'm not sorry that they did it.

06:59 Do your parents still own the craft store?

07:01 Both my parents are no longer living, sadly, at a certain point, they did it for a long time. But, you know, I think mostly for my mother, who was a very social being. Being in this little rural town. Where if you hadn't lived there for five generations, you didn't belong. People weren't super warm and friendly to her or my dad. I had the opportunity of making friends in school. But they didn't have that. So eventually they did it for quite a while. And then eventually they moved back to Long island. And then toward the end of their lives, they actually moved to Northampton to be near me and my family. So that was really nice.

07:42 So do you feel like because your parents owned a craft store. And you kind of, like, grew up around their hobbies. Do you hold that same hobby. Where you're interested in crafts and making stuff and diying?

07:55 Yeah, I love to. It's interesting. Both my husband and my daughter are extremely creative in different ways. Very different ways. But because they're so creative, sometimes I feel more self conscious. I don't feel like I have that level of talent. So I love to make things. But sometimes I feel self conscious. So what I tend to do is I'll do, you know, self teach myself something. And I'll do it a few times. And then I try something else, or I'll take a class. There's certain things I won't do, like, painting or drawing. But, you know, I've tried mosaics and I've tried jewelry. You know, I've tried knitting. Yeah, I like to. Okay.

08:37 Thank you for telling your stories.

08:39 You're welcome.