Laytonville Love by Chloe Curiel

Never in my life, have I been treated so well, by people so unfamiliar. God blessed us an enormous amount as we pulled into Laytonville Auto Parts to find Richie and Jr. chilling in the front of the shop at about 7 o’clock at night, our motor clanking and chirping to a halt. A couple of wrong guesses of the problem and finally a diagnosis arose. The alternator was giving way and should not have even made it this far.

We felt invited, so we stayed and talked to these guys for several hours into the night. For a little town it sure had a lot of history that we apparently needed to know. Everyone can safely say they felt welcomed to Laytonville. We parked on the side of the beauty shop and decided to go no further until we could get Jubilee sounding normal again. The next day we shifted our weight onto Dan’s property, the ultimate diesel mechanic in the county, and parked in his driveway. That night we met the broken yet beautiful eight-year-old grandson, Marcus. We instantly stopped feeling sorry for ourselves.

Ending up in this small town wasn’t so bad.

The next morning, my mother and I made friends with Patti, Dan’s precious wife, and rode with her to Ukiah to take her grandsons home. The more time we spent there, the more friends we made, and the more blessed we felt. We attended the “Dome Church” that was in fact a beautiful building shaped like a dome. The believers there were wonderful and nice, and we even got a glimpse of Albert, the one hundred and two-year-old man, who was looking pretty good in my opinion. Later on we got to talk to him when he came for dinner, or more like yell into his left ear, the only one still working properly, and quickly found out that he was quite the roustabout in his younger days.

The hospitality never ended. Richie drove by to visit almost everyday. I found the bright sides quick because there were so many! The people, the country, the mountains, the weather, the new friends, the swing set that I spent hours on everyday, the dinner that was made for us every night, the laughs, the night swims, the camp fires, all of them huge blessings and all of them able to lift burdens.

Today we saw some of the Redwoods, but we couldn’t get enough, so tomorrow we will go back with Patty and Richie and enjoy a true gift of beauty. Not everything has gone as planned or like we wanted, but I can’t wait to see what is ahead on that open road.

Tomorrow marks the seventh day, the official week we have been in Laytonville and I am seeing that God will help us find the home in our hearts so we don’t have to start missing our real one.