Part One - Looking Back

We wanted to take some time to look back on the last five years and figure out what it meant to us, as well as welcome a whole new batch of Richmond people to the blog. It’s easy to catch up when we are living right down the street, but now that we’re further away, we wanted to include you in our updates!

Getting things wrapped up with the house was at the same time frustrating and rewarding.  We have spent years doing things the ‘right way,’ meaning for instance that instead of just painting over previous layers of paint and wall paper like the previous owners, we would take it ALL down and then paint. We had to repair and replace so many things, it felt weird at the end doing work we came to refer to as Good Enough Work. Will the buyers really care about this? No? Then skip it. Even though we felt like we were skimping, taking a last look around the house we were very proud of everything that we had accomplished. The house also taught us a lot of things; dry walling, plumbing, how to remove wall paper, how to install laminate, and mostly not to buy a house that was built before 1950.

Nate's action shot!

 Both of us came to Richmond because of Earlham, and at first were deeply surrounded by the so called "Earlham Bubble". Your inital interactions with Richmond as an Earlham student are limited to trips to the local grocery store and crossing 40. That is to say the interactions mainly involved loud cars, hoots from their drivers and the occasional thrown object. Richmond's reputation is not held in high regard among the students. However, as we moved towards graduation, and lived further from campus, we began to meet and interact with the real Richmondites. We were pleasantly surprised to find caring thoughtful families eager to welcome some outsiders into their community. We settled into the Old Richmond area and soon learned that off the beaten path of 40 and 27 there were gems to be found. Places like Little Sheba's and Joe's Pizza offered local food and RCT provided the flair.

We both found places that we felt at home - Nate started at Ray Ontko & Company/Doxpop, and loved it. It was so great to feel like part of a business family right away, and he was eager to start learning hands on skills. While college had been an excellent experience, the scope and breadth of knowledge he has gained in the last six and a half years has been fantastic. Now, as he is training a new employee who's starting out fresh like he did, he's getting a new perspective on just now much he has learned. The opportunity to expand his skills and work with such great co-workers will make Doxpop a benchmark for future employment.

Justine started at HELP the Animals before graduation, and in it found a place that she could use and develop all of her skills in an environment that she loved. She made it all the way from cleaning kennels to working as acting manager, learning and growing in each position. Unfortunately, the end of spending time at HELP the Animals went poorly, but as always was a learning experience. She made some life-long friends, and will always work in her free time to help animal rescues and TNR. Luckily, after HELP, Justine got a chance to serve on the amazing board at Richmond Civic Theatre. What an amazing group of people with an amazing group dynamic and work ethic.

Thank you all for the relationships and experiences! We have loved the time that we spent in Richmond!