Houston is the middle Hart brother, and his story comes smack dab in the middle of the Seven Brides for Seven Texans Romance Collection. I thought that would be a good place for it to fall. I’m glad Erica and the others agreed with me and let me have that spot. The vintage photograph below shows how I pictured Houston.
The story begins with Houston’s return to Texas after twelve years away. He’s the only Hart brother to have left home with little to no intention of returning. Like many, he headed to California, where I live. Unlike many, he wasn’t as interested in what the Golden State had to offer as he was in getting away from his father and his father's expectations back in Texas.
People leave home for many reasons. Many are positive and mark normal life passages.
I left home for the first time when I headed to college. Being away from family was new to me. Like some do, I bounced back home for a time. I left again when I got a job and my own apartment, but I didn’t go too far. At least at first. I did spend a couple of years up in Washington state, but I returned to California, settling in the San Francisco Bay Area about three hours from my parents.
A few years later, I met my husband. Carl had a dream of teaching in an American high school over in Germany. We’d only been married a year when his dream came true. All of a sudden, I faced an international move. This was in 1987 before the Internet, Skype, etc. I’ll admit to being scared, but I was also excited. The four and a half years my husband and I spent in Germany were some of my best, but I missed our families and was happy when it came time to return to California.
Twenty years later, I experienced leaving home from a parent’s perspective when our daughter headed off to college. Since she chose a university that was only an hour away, I did pretty well. When she decided to head to Europe after her graduation and work as an English-language teaching assistant, it was hard on me, but my husband and I supported her. How could we not when we’d lived abroad ourselves?
Our gal ended up spending a year in France and two years in Austria before returning this past summer. Although those three years were tough at times, I’m thankful Adriana had that wonderful experience. Even so, I’m glad she’s back now and has settled in our area again. The grin I'm sporting in the photo below shows how happy I was when we picked her up at the airport this past June.
Sending our daughter off to Europe was hard, but we could keep in touch on a daily basis, thanks to Skype and Facebook instant messaging. I can’t imagine what it was like for those who left home back in the 1800s. Both parent and child had to realize that they might never see one another again and that correspondence, if possible, would be slow and infrequent.
Houston made the choice to leave home, despite the distance and difficulty communicating with his family back in Texas. Why?
He didn’t feel like he fit in. Unlike his father and brothers, he preferred running a business to ranching. In order to be his own man, Houston chose to go to California. The trouble was that the woman he loved said she couldn’t go with him, but he knew what she really meant. Coralee wouldn’t go with him.
But Houston is back now. Although he’s in no hurry to see Coralee Culpepper again, Hartville is a small town, so he's bound to run into her. He’ll just have to keep his distance because he’s not about to be rejected again. She’s not the woman for him. But can he find a bride in time to get his inheritance?
Questions for You
(Answer at least one question to be entered in the giveaway.)
When/why did
you leave home for the first time, if you have?
Do you live near your relatives, or have you moved away?
Do you live near your relatives, or have you moved away?
Have you had children leave the nest?
If so, what was that experience like for you?
The E-x-p-a-n-d-i-n-g
Giveaway
Each day this
week, I’ll be adding a new item to the prize package, making it BIGGER and
better than the one before.
Yesterday’s prize package included three tasty Texas treats: a Texas Millionaire, a Texas Longhorn and a pecan praline plus the first book in the Lone Star Cowboy League continuity series from the Love Inspired Historical line that Erica, Gabrielle and I write for: Stand-in Rancher Daddy by Renee Ryan.
The winner is Kristine Klein. Congratulations, Kristine! Please send me an email me at keligwyn (at) keligwyn (dot) com with your mailing address, and I'll get the package on its way to you.
Today I’m adding the second book in the Lone Star Cowboy League to the prize package. The winner will receive all of the above plus A Family for the Rancher by Louise M. Gouge—five items in all.
Yesterday’s prize package included three tasty Texas treats: a Texas Millionaire, a Texas Longhorn and a pecan praline plus the first book in the Lone Star Cowboy League continuity series from the Love Inspired Historical line that Erica, Gabrielle and I write for: Stand-in Rancher Daddy by Renee Ryan.
The winner is Kristine Klein. Congratulations, Kristine! Please send me an email me at keligwyn (at) keligwyn (dot) com with your mailing address, and I'll get the package on its way to you.
Today I’m adding the second book in the Lone Star Cowboy League to the prize package. The winner will receive all of the above plus A Family for the Rancher by Louise M. Gouge—five items in all.
To enter one of my giveaways this week, all you have to do is leave a comment with the answer to one of the questions above by midnight EST. I’ll choose the winner using random.org and will announce the winner’s name in the following day’s post, so be sure to check back to find out who won. (I’ll ask Erica to include Friday’s winner in her Saturday post.)
We’re saving our
biggest and best prize for the final post in three weeks, when Erica will
announce the winner of our Kindle Fire giveaway. One lucky winner will receive
a Kindle Fire loaded with other books written by the authors of the Seven Brides for Seven Texans Romance
Collection, including my three Love Inspired Historicals and two by
Gabrielle. You can enter the giveaway below, if you haven’t already done so.
I left home a year after I graduated from high school. My best friend was a year behind me, and we wanted to be roommates. We still lived in the same town as our parents just a few minutes away. I never felt such freedom until then! But we were responsible young adults, so there were jobs to go to and bills to pay. I loved having my "own" place :-)
ReplyDeleteI don't live near my relatives anymore. They mostly live in Illinois still and I'm on the Oregon coast...some 2000 miles away or so. Been here since 1996 and love it! I can't afford to visit as often as I want and plan to try to go this next year or so. Thank goodness for Facebook!
My oldest is 24 and on her own, thankfully only 5 minutes from home. It was a really big change when she moved into her first place, probably for both of us! Now we watch the grand-girl every weekend for a few hours, so we get to see her pretty regular. Our son just graduated this past June and is attending our community college so he still lives at home for now. It will be quite different when we are truly "empty-nesters"! I almost don't know how to be an adult, I've been "mom" for so long...lol!
What a fun novella collection! I just recently read & reviewed this one and I remember Houston wanting to fulfill a role just to make his dad happy. I'm glad everything worked out in the end for everyone around :-)
What a fun prize pack! I've read Jessica Keller's installment of The Cowboy League: Boys Ranch & would very much love to have each book in the series. Thanks for the chance :-) Blessings!
Ooops, that's supposed to be Lone Star Cowboy League: Boys Ranch!
DeleteTrixi, it sounds like you were quite a responsible young adult when you ventured out on your own. It's great that you had a friend to be your roommate, share expenses and help you make that transition to adulthood.
DeleteI'm glad you're happy to be in Oregon, even if it is so far from your relatives back in Illinois. I can relate to being far from family. Carl and I lived in Germany for four and a half years early in our marriage. That's a long way from California, but living in Germany was an incredible experience. I was glad to get back to my beloved Golden State when the time came, though. I love living in the heart of the Gold Country now, which I've done ever since returning from Germany back in 1993.
It's nice that your adult daughter is close by. Our gal followed in our footsteps and spent three years living and working in Europe right after college. I got a taste of what my parents and in-laws went through. What I learned was that I want our gal to be happy wherever she is and to experience all that the Lord has for her, wherever that might be. I'm sure you feel the same way when it comes to your children.
I'm glad you enjoyed the collection. Thanks so much for taking the time to post a review. Reviews really help authors out.
I thought it would be fun to feature the Lone Star Cowboy League LIH series in my giveaway since I write for the line, as do Erica and Gabrielle. I'm glad you enjoyed one of the LIs that are part of the series on the contemporary side. Can you guess what the next book I add to the expanding giveaway is going to be?
P.S. I knew what series title you meant. =)
DeleteSuch an interesting post, Keli - thanks, loved reading about your moves!!
ReplyDeleteMy first move was about 1 1/2 hours from home to near a military base my new hubby was stationed at. I've always had wanderlust, loving to travel and experience new places, and having been single for 27 years now - have done a lot of traveling alone. I've lived in 2 cities in Michigan and 2 in Tennessee - but moved back home to Kentucky when I retired, due to health reasons, in 2007. I live in a condo community on rural property, just outside the Louisville city limits, that once was part of my maternal grandfather's farm property and only a couple of miles from the farm on which I moved to at the age of about 3 years and where my parents (in their 90's) still live.
My oldest son has an apartment in my parents' basement and is a help to them - my youngest son, however, has moved numerous times with his job. Now living in Kansas with his family - which includes my only grandchild, whom I don't see nearly often enough, LOL. The hardest adjustment for me was when he left home for college - I was a single parent and living alone for the first time.
Your post gave me pause - remembering the pain I felt when he left home, I can only imagine the feelings parents experienced when their children moved away from home in the 1800's - without the benefit of the communication advances you mentioned we now have. But then, I think people of the 1800's may have been even more courageous and adventurous than I've ever been - they had to be, for survival's sake, and it was a way of life for them.
Congrats on your story about Houston in 'Seven Brides' and thanks for the wonderful giveaway opportunities!!
Bonnie, my husband and I moved to Germany because he landed a job as a high school science teacher with the Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS). He taught the children of Army personnel stationed in the Nürnberg area. That experience gave me an appreciation for our military families. What courageous, helpful, generous people they are. They're quick to offer friendship and practical assistance. It's 23 years later, and we're still in touch with a number of the friends we made during that time. It's fun to get their newsletters this time of year and hear how they're doing. I hope you were able to make some treasured friends during your days as a military wife.
DeleteI'm glad you've been able to travel and see new places. There are adventures waiting, wonderful people to meet and great sights to see everywhere, aren't there?
I'm sorry that you're dealing with health issues, but it's cool that you're living on property once owned by your grandfather and close to where you grew up. I'm sure you have many wonderful memories of those days.
It's great that your oldest son is close by. I love that he's helping his grandparents. You obviously raised a great guy. I'm sure it's hard to have your youngest son living far away, though, especially since he's blessed you with a grandchild.
I'm sorry my post reminded you of the pain you experienced when your youngest headed off to college. Adjusting to the Empty Nest can be tough, but it must be even more so for a person who ends up all alone, as you did. Having our one and only nine time zones away from us was hard, but I had Carl to help me. You didn't have a partner to commiserate with you. I feel for you and what you went through.
I do explore some of life's more challenging situations in my stories. I think it brings realism to them, but I love that I'm able to show the role faith and hope play in my character's lives. Plus, there's a guaranteed happy ending since I write romance. :-)
The first time I left home was when I first went to college. My college is in Greenville, SC. Its hard sometimes being far away from home but at the same time its nice to have some peace and quiet
ReplyDeleteKirsten, leaving home and heading off to college can be bittersweet. Saying good-bye to loved ones isn't easy, but being able to embrace the freedom and enjoy that feeling of independence can be a real thrill. I hope you're enjoying your college experience and embracing this wonderful opportunity you've been given. I hope you're able to be with your family at Christmas.
DeleteI left home when I eighteen and that was to become a wife. I am sure that my parents missed me but I was only about 10 miles away and I have never lived farther than 18 miles away from my birthplace my entire life! Many will think that my life had been boring but I think that your life can be exciting anywhere - - you are the one who determines how you choose to react to life and circumstances. I suffered empty nest syndrome when my daughter went to college and again when she married but I know that this is part of God's plan.
ReplyDeleteI hope to read 7 brides soon and I wish you a very Merry Christmas!
Connie
cps1950(AT)gmail(DOT)com
Connie, I love your positive outlook on life. I think what you said here would make an uplifting meme: "Your life can be exciting anywhere--you are the one who determines how you choose to react to life and circumstances." It sounds to me like you're content. What a blessing that is in the midst of a world where so many of us are rushing around, striving for more and feeling stressed.
DeleteLike you, I think the Empty Nest Syndrome is a natural part of life. If we didn't miss our children, something would be amiss. I remind myself that a happy, productive, confident young adult out on his or her own is a sure sign of parents who did their jobs well.
Merry Christmas to you!
Yes, 3 children have moved from home. We've moved away from family in retirement but live in the same town as my daughter, so I found your post interesting! :)
ReplyDeleteDeanna, having children leave home can be tough but exciting at the same time, can't it? I'm glad you're able to have one daughter nearby as you enjoy your retirement years.
DeleteDeanna, I popped over to random.org to see who the winner of the Day 3 prize package is, and it's you! Congratulations! If you'll send your mailing address to me at keligwyn (at) keligwyn (dot) come, I'll get the package on its way to you
DeleteThe first time that I left home was when I went to a college about 4 hours away from home. Then I went to work at a Bible Book store about 8 hours away. I never realized at the time how hard it was on my parents to be so far away from them. We have children living in LA, Connecticut, Denver, and Branson, the closest being about 3 1/2 hours away, other than the last 2 of which 1 is still in college. It's hard but we talk and skype often. My hubby jokes that we were such bad parents, that our kids scattered far from us. They all still come home for Christmas, funerals, or graduations. It's always a blessing as parents to see them loving what they do and where they live, as well as walking with the Lord still.
ReplyDeleteBecky, it is interesting how it takes having children leave home to give us an appreciation for what our parents went though when we left the nest, isn't it? Some of your children have certainly flown a ways, haven't they? It's nice to have so many ways to keep in touch these days. It makes the separations a bit easier.
DeleteYour hubby's joke made me smile. I think the truth is that when we do our jobs right as parents, our children have the confidence and independence needed to strike out on their own and become responsible adults. That's a sign that we've done our jobs well.
My husband and I left our home town six months after our marriage to live on a kibbutz in Israel for a year. We were part of a Christian group and a unique ministry to live among the Jewish people. We had a great time and made lots of friends.
ReplyDeleteNow, we're in the count down for our youngest child as he prepares to leave home for the final time. He got his masters' degree and his first "big" job and will be living in a town an hour's drive away. I'm really thankful he's not moving out of state.
Wow, Vickie! What an incredible experience your time in Israel must have been. To undertake that adventure as newlyweds was courageous, but it could have been just the thing to help you two forge strong bonds as you embraced those new experiences together. Carl and I had to lean on one another during our time in Germany, so I get that.
DeleteI feel for you as you brace yourself for the transition to the Empty Nest. It's a bittersweet experience. On the one hand, we miss our kids and the time we had them with us. On the other, it's exciting to see them doing so well and embarking on their adult lives. Your son sounds like he's set for success. You must be so proud of him and his many accomplishments.
We live near my husband's relatives, and my parents live 2 1/2 hours away. One brother and his family live 1 1/2 hours away. Most of my other siblings are scattered about.
ReplyDeleteJen Anne, it's nice that you're not too far away from many of your relatives, at least by California standards. I hope you're able to get together with them on a regular basis.
DeleteI left my home state of WV in 1992 to escape an abusive marriage when I went to WI to live with my sister. The Lord blessed me twenty years later when in 2012 I was able to move back. Thank you and Merry Christmas 🎄
ReplyDeleteLucy, I'm sorry for what you went through and that you had to leave your home state and thankful that you were able to return.
DeleteMerry Christmas to you!
I love hearing your stories Keli.
ReplyDeleteI got married in Indiana in June and moved to Colorado in October. Then moved to Missouri, then to the burbs of Chicago. I have lived far from family for 33 years. The early years were the hardest. I'd like to move closer to family now. I miss them. My daughter got married and moved far away 10 years ago. It nearly killed me. She and her husband love Oregon and it is their home now after living in California and Colorado while he was in the Air Force. It is very hard knowing I will never live near her again. Especially this time of year. I am thankful for free long distance phone calls! I am even more thankful for technology! Video calls, instant photos, email. Also blogs and Facebook so I can connect with people like you and so many others.
Andrea, gone are the days when families pretty much stayed in one place, as was the case with the Hart family in the collection. We've become such a mobile society. It's not uncommon for people to move every few years and for children to live far away from their parents. It's not easy on us parents, but, like you, I'm thankful technology has enabled us to keep in touch with far flung children via many different means--and inexpensively, too.
DeleteI have never lived more than 5 miles from where I grew up. Even my 3 brothers live within a half mile of our farm we grew up on. My kids are too little to move out. It is crazy that we all are still around, though!
ReplyDeleteSusan, how special that you've lived in the same town all your life. What a way to form deep friendships. It must be great to be so close to your siblings. Do you all gather for the holidays?
DeleteLOVED Houston's story in "7 Brides for 7 Brothers" and to answer your question, I never had a problem leaving home, from spending a week out of state with one of my grandmothers when fairly young, to attending weeks of summer camp. I went to college out of state and then moved across my home state where I still reside. Three of our four have left the nest and the fourth is soon to follow. But they are just a short drive away.
ReplyDeleteRebecca, I'm glad you enjoyed Houston's story. Your kind words added a smile to my day.
DeleteYou sound like a confident, well-adjusted woman who embraced new experiences. That's great.
It's nice that your kids who have left home aren't too far away. I like that our daughter is now living just 20 minutes from us.
I married at the age of 17, so I left home early. :) I only moved about 15 minutes away though with my husband. However, we moved away from the place that we both grew up (Florida) about 10 years later and lived 500 miles from all of our family. We lived in NC for 8 years before moving even farther away to Colorado. So now we are about 2000 miles away from all of our family. I do love the area we live in, but at times it is hard being so far away from home. :)
ReplyDeleteWow, Joy! You did leave home at a young age. You were a young bride, too. That must have been an exciting time in your life.
DeleteIt sounds like you've adjusted well to the increasing distance from your relatives. The nice thing is that there are so many ways to stay in touch these days. I'm sure it's harder to be apart this time of year, though.
I married at 18 and w/in 6 months we moved fr Michigan to St Paul, MN. We were gone from our families for 20 yrs and came back to MI so we could be near aging parents. 2 of the 3 we came back to are now in Heaven. Our children (5) have all flown the coop. 2 with 6 of our grands live out of state. We see the other 4 grands almost every day. Now that I'm retired I go visit the others as often as I can!
ReplyDeleteAnne, leaving home can be hard. I can see why you felt called to return when your parents needed your help. I'm sure those that are gone were glad to have had you close by.
DeleteI'm sure it's hard to be far away from those two grandchildren. It's nice that the other four are so close that you can be part of their daily lives.
I have never lived far from 'home', that being my parents! I spent one year in college on campus but not far from my parents and then after school my older sister and I lived together for several years. After she got married I lived alone for almost 10 years before finally getting married at the age of 41!
ReplyDeleteI do have a younger brother who lives about 6-7 hours from home, and it's not fun having him that far away.
Patty, it's nice that you were able to live with your sister all those years before her marriage. What a joy it must have been to meet your husband after being on your own for so long.
ReplyDeleteI popped over to random.org to see who the winner of the Day 3 prize package is, and it's Deanna Stevens! Congratulations, Deanna! If you'll send your mailing address to me at keligwyn (at) keligwyn (dot) come, I'll get the package on its way to you.
ReplyDelete