#whenhellfreezesover

When Hell Freezes Over is a statement most people make to let the listener know how serious they are about how the topic at hand is pretty much impossible. About 6-7 years ago when me and My wife, Dannay, moved to Los Angeles, she asked me would I ever consider moving to Barstow, CA.

Sounds random, but it wasn’t. On May 14, 1982, I was born in Barstow Community Hospital at 12:22pm, my birth certificate is signed by my mother and father who both grew up in Barstow, CA, Millard Walton III and Cathy Ross (at the time). They were 18 and 19 respectively at the time and had been high school sweet hearts.

Unfortantely they split when I was two years old, but not before my dad moved us to Los Angeles to go work for my grandfather at a homeless shelter he was running called THE HOUSE OF HOPE.

So from two to 34 I only came to Barstow for a few summers, a couple of holidays, and a short stint of living there when I was in elementary school, but I attended Montana elementary school for maybe a semester and was gone. So my only real memories of Barstow was it was either too cold or too hot and that they didn’t have close to the things to do that I experienced in Los Angeles, more specifically the Inglewood/Hawthorne areas.

So when she asked me if I would ever consider moving to Barstow because she knew it was the place I was born, my answer was WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER.

I was very sure I would never reside in Barstow or any city up the hill that was over a hour away from any Ocean. You see, my love for the Ocean runs deep. So deep that I plan on returning to the place me and my wife were married, which is Vieques, Puerto Rico and living the rest of my life on the beautiful island where I can visit two beautiful Oceans any time I want.

Five years ago, I made a five year plan to make that happen.

But a year and a half before that my world was flipped upside down. THE HOUSE OF HOPE, which was the business I was now taking over had been taken from me. And my writing and film career which was suffering because of the sacrifices I made to take over The House of Hope was moving slow and put me in a pretty weird predicament. My son was being born and I had no way of having any kind of assured money for us to live on.

Hell had frozen over.

Realizing that, I looked at how would me and my family survive and I realized first that Barstow was affordable to live compared to Los Angeles, and if I was gonna almost be starting over then it would be a lot easier there. I had family who could help me and my wife as we transitioned at my son and daughters would have a higher quality of life in the high desert compared to the city which I knew was way more dangerous.

This blog will document our new life in Barstow, CA and the surrounding areas. Our plan is still to retire in Puerto Rico, but there is beauty in Barstow and before I leave the place I was born I intend to prove that beauty. Including this tumblr blog, I will also maintain a instagram and youtube account where you will get a mix of my talents, writing, photography, video, and editing. I will try to make it fun and interactive and the journey will be for the year of 2018 for sure and I hope you enjoy.

Thank you,

Millard S. Walton IV