Shortly after my wife and I were married in 2014, we moved to Southern California to begin our ministry careers working with a church plant in Covina, CA. Life was busy but in a good sort of way. We were finally free from the stress of our undergraduate school schedules and wedding preperations, but helping get a new church started kept us busy weekdays, weekends, and many evenings.
Then at some point during that first year of marraige, which was the first time either of us had lived independelty, we realized that we could do whatever we wanted in our own home. It was an exilerating feeling. My wife, of course, took her home decorating skills to the next level; but I realized that I needed a new personal hobby that I could enjoy at home that would stimulate my creative side but not require too much energy at the end of a long day. None of my Oregon hobbies fit that description.
So, one day while I was browsing through craigslist for bulk lots to flip on eBay, I stumbled accross an ad for a 50-year collection of Model Railroader magazines for $100. Apprently this guy’s father was a model railroader and a lifetime member of the magazine which he left to his son after he passed away. A quick check on eBay confirmed that I could easily turn a profit by selling them per year and so I went for it. Later that night I had 50 or so periodical archive boxes stacked along one wall of our living room.
Well, it wasn’t very long before my eBay listing sessions turned into distracted reading times. The pictures and articles brought back memories of the unfinished model train layout my brother and I had when we were kids. I then realized that building a small model railroad could be the creative outlet I needed to offset my social work in ministry.