Trying Again: Shifting Throughout The Nation As Newlyweds
KUNR Youth Media Reporter Wesley Kaopio and his family have lived in Reno for about five years. Before Wesley was born, his parents uprooted their lives and moved from Chicago to San Francisco. In this conversation, Wesley interviews his mother Terri Meister about her decision to take a big step west as a newlywed in the late 1990s.
Listen to this interview.
Wesley Kaopio: It’s been a long time since you moved to California before I was even born. So I was wondering what made you guys think about moving in the first place, especially such a long distance?
Terri Meister: I was about to finish college and graduate. I had actually graduated by then or was about to graduate. Then your father and I looked at our future, looked at where we wanted to be, and all of those things. And I was a real home one day, sick from work at home, and I had always kind of had this romantic fantasy about San Francisco; move there, live there, be in California, but not in Southern California and Northern California. So one day he came home from work and I just winged it and took a shot and said, “What do you think about moving to San Francisco?” And he said and looked at me very much [suspiciously]”Really? If we move to San Francisco, we have to get married first.” So we planned our marriage, wedding, and move. By then, it was about a month and a half.
Kaopio: It’s faster than I thought. So why California? I mean, why did you choose to move to California?
Well, I always grew up in the Chicago area. I grew up in Lockport, Illinois and then went to college in downtown Chicago. I lived in Lincoln Park, basically met your dad just before my senior year of high school, and we got engaged when I was very young.
I was in LA because your dad is from LA. And I kind of just saw the California scene, the mountains and the beaches. San Francisco seemed like something, almost a wonderland, a very different experience from the Midwest – entirely. And he loved living in LA but wanted to go somewhere away from his family, away from my family, so it was San Francisco.
Kaopio: I’m glad you chose California. It was a pretty nice place, despite its shortcomings. So, because of the severity of this journey, and you know you have moved, how much has it affected your family?
Master: They had to see me as a separate entity and not as someone to call and who would drop everything right away. I grew up. I had my own life. I had my own business to do. They began to realize that more and to realize how much I needed to grow and be my own person instead of anchoring myself in their life.
Kaopio: It’s nice to know how positive this trip has been for you. During your entire long journey, what was the most amazing or influential thing that you experienced?
Master: Oh, we’ve definitely seen some things. We had our frustrations, you know, it was us and the three cats. We had three cats then. The three of us cats, a huge U-Haul and a trailer in the back of our car that drove all the way from Chicago to San Francisco was definitely an adventure.
But I have to honestly say the most poignant moment was when we actually stopped at the Grand Canyon. We stopped there and just took a breath. It was almost like breathing in our new life. There was even a condor that stopped in front of our truck and spread its wings the entire length of the two lane road we were on and it was easy, it was almost inviting. You know what I mean? It was definitely the highlight of our entire trip.
Kaopio: Thank you for sitting with me today. And thank you again for letting me interview you.
Master: You’re welcome.
Wesley Kaopio is a junior at Earl Wooster High School in Reno. KUNR’s youth media program is a special partnership with the Washoe County School District to train the next generation of journalists.
