The Story Behind SoldiersHomeStories.com
December 2008 was a month of unusual upheaval: I was laid off (The Seattle Times) and laid up (hysterectomy), and my father-in-law, in Minneapolis, was moved into a nursing home. There was definitely major change in the air – and it wasn’t just that refreshing eau d’Obama.
I had time on my hands, a void in my guts and just enough motivational inspiration to waddle to the computer, so I looked for Something Good To Do. And I realized, with the clarity of mind that comes only from waning anesthesia, that even though I couldn’t up and move to Minnesota, maybe I could Do Something for someone else’s father-in-law, or grandpa, or dad. And since my father-in-law was a World War II veteran, and my dad a Navy veteran, I looked first to the Washington Soldiers Home and Colony in Orting, Washington ... and immediately signed up to volunteer.
It has been, easily, one of the best and most defining decisions I have ever made.
I started writing about my visits to the Soldiers Home just for me, because that's just what I do, but the more I got to know the residents, the more I became convinced that more people should know them, and their stories.
This Web site is produced with the support of the Washington Soldiers Home and Colony, and its amazing interim superintendent (also the Deputy Director of the Washington Department of Veterans Affairs), "Alfie" Alvarado-Ramos.
Every resident who appears in a photo or video on this site has signed a consent form.
This project is a work in progress; I hope to keep interviewing residents, adding their stories and chronicling my visits as long as they'll let me. I also hope to one day feel a little more comfortable with the filming and editing process. I've been a journalist for more than 20 years, so I know my way around a keyboard and a camera, but I find this video stuff counterintuitive, confusing and intimidating, so I'm also hoping the quality of the residents' stories outweighs my technological ineptitude. (I keep telling myself that's part of this site's charm.)
I had time on my hands, a void in my guts and just enough motivational inspiration to waddle to the computer, so I looked for Something Good To Do. And I realized, with the clarity of mind that comes only from waning anesthesia, that even though I couldn’t up and move to Minnesota, maybe I could Do Something for someone else’s father-in-law, or grandpa, or dad. And since my father-in-law was a World War II veteran, and my dad a Navy veteran, I looked first to the Washington Soldiers Home and Colony in Orting, Washington ... and immediately signed up to volunteer.
It has been, easily, one of the best and most defining decisions I have ever made.
I started writing about my visits to the Soldiers Home just for me, because that's just what I do, but the more I got to know the residents, the more I became convinced that more people should know them, and their stories.
This Web site is produced with the support of the Washington Soldiers Home and Colony, and its amazing interim superintendent (also the Deputy Director of the Washington Department of Veterans Affairs), "Alfie" Alvarado-Ramos.
Every resident who appears in a photo or video on this site has signed a consent form.
This project is a work in progress; I hope to keep interviewing residents, adding their stories and chronicling my visits as long as they'll let me. I also hope to one day feel a little more comfortable with the filming and editing process. I've been a journalist for more than 20 years, so I know my way around a keyboard and a camera, but I find this video stuff counterintuitive, confusing and intimidating, so I'm also hoping the quality of the residents' stories outweighs my technological ineptitude. (I keep telling myself that's part of this site's charm.)