Changing Tide: California Dream or Nightmare?

by Victoria Farnsworth

Barely fifteen years of age, Vicki left her family and home on Bainbridge Island to move to California to live with her biological father. She had only met him on two brief occasions in the past, which meant that they were almost strangers. She had corresponded with him for a couple of years and thought she knew what she was getting into. She had hopes and dreams of becoming an actress and her father had told her that he knew people in the industry who could help her. Her mother and step-father had a large family and little financial resources, so with her mother's prompting, she moved to live with her father in order to help her family and fulfill her dreams.

Unfortunately for Vicki, things did not go as planned. Her father attempted to molest her the first two nights she lived with him. She was saved from harm because of a young married couple who shared the house with her father. Vicki sought help from the neighbor across the street who belonged to the same church as her father. The neighbors intervened and coached her father on being a decent man. It was a long, slow process but he never misbehaved again.

Vicki had numerous opportunities to advance her dreams, but more often than not, her father ruined them for her. He also refused to spend on nickel on her support, so in addition to attending high school, she had to work to provide for the necessities of life; she suffered from malnutrition and extreme fatigue. With the intervention of caring friends, she was able to cope with the adverse conditions she was living in.

Amidst the chaos of her first year in California, she converted from the Methodist religion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her father had just joined the church one month prior to Vicki moving in with him. He was one of the many reasons, she did not want to learn about the Mormons; in fact, at first she wanted to rescue her father from them. As time went by, and new experiences and circumstances surrounded her, Vicki had a change of heart. Within her new found religion, Vicki was able to fulfill some of her dreams, plus discover many new talents she didn't know that she possessed.

Changing Tide is a true story of struggle and hardship. It is also a story of determination and tenacity. For Vicki, those three years in California were life-changing.

202 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2014

About the author

Victoria Farnsworth was born in California but grew up on a beautiful island in the Pacific Northwest. She spent three years in California as a teenager but returned to the Pacific Northwest to graduate from high school. It was during her senior year that she met her husband and after his return from Viet Nam, they married. They have been married for 45 years and together have three married daughters and eight beautiful (and highly intelligent) grandchildren. Due to health reasons, Victoria has moved to Payson and is enjoying her retirement surrounded by the natural beauty of the mountains in central Arizona.

She had her first work published in the Reader’s Digest in August of 1983. She spent the next several years writing poems for family, friends, and church but never endeavoring to publish her work. She kept busy working as a secretary for the Department of the Navy for several years. She then spent the next 15 years teaching swimming and related aquatic classes for various school and park districts in the states of Washington, Oregon, and California.

During her years working outside the home, she was also busy raising a family of three girls. As is every mother, she was busy driving girls to lessons, sports, and church activities. She had to deal with teenage boys, lovesick girls, and being married to a millworker turned truck driver.

When the girls all left home for school or marriage, rather than feel like an empty nester, she spent time in serious prayer and contemplation. She then embarked on a new career path and became Clara the Clown. Seven years were spent clowning around up and down the West Coast. As always, she was busy with church service and managed to be a Relief Society President during this time. Her new career ended when a car accident forced her to retire. After becoming a Master Gardener she started a new business doing landscape design. Unfortunately, another car accident forced her to once again give up something she loved.

Writing continued to be a hobby. During her 10 year membership in the Glove & Trowel Garden Club, she spent 4 years as secretary and writing the quarterly update of the club’s activities. In June of 2011 Victoria had an article published in the Northwest Landscape Professional magazine about butterfly gardening. So many people read the article and commented that she should write professionally; a seed was planted! She kept an online journal of her life in Mexico and continues with a website devoted to her new life and home in Payson, Arizona: http://victoriafarnsworth.weebly.com/.

As time has passed, Victoria has received more opportunities to relate stories from her life. Each time, people comment that she should write a book. Now, in her retirement, the time has come to share her life experiences. One book could not begin to hold 60 plus years of unforgettable events; hence this work will take many volumes to tell the story of an ordinary woman living an extraordinary life.