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Simply Authentic...Your Soul Voice is Calling. My Weekend at Bob Hope's House

Writer's picture: Kimberly GenlyKimberly Genly

My Weekend at Bob Hope’s House Opportunities and inspiration can come through the strangest and most unexpected of avenues. I could list many examples, as I’m sure you could, from even before I started consciously creating my dreams and intentionally asking for guidance and inspiration. Yet – just last week – I mentioned the terrific guy who owns our rental house. Would you believe since I posted that entry (trust me, Ron is not a subscriber or reader) he’s informed us our rent is going… down?? Yes, we are great renters, but how often does that happen? Especially in Portland’s rental real estate market these days? Uh, like…never. Yet it just did. That’s a reason for a happy dance, but I digress; what I wanted to tell you about is my weekend at Bob Hope’s house in Palm Springs, CA. Okay, it was no life-shattering, transformational event. But it was great fun, one of those odd invitations that pop up by “random” coincidence. And it’s a fun story to share. Seriously…how many other people do you know who can honestly say they spent a weekend under Bob Hope’s roof? (If you’re too young to remember Bob Hope, will you please come to my house and show me how to most effectively utilize Google Hangouts?) The year was 1992. The esteemed comedian and his wife, Dolores (both passed in 2003), were not staying in their Palm Springs house that steaming hot August weekend.  A notepad resting on a master bedroom nightstand listed the telephone numbers of their five homes – apparently they were in another. I wouldn’t want to summer in Palm Springs, either. I lived in a two-bedroom apartment with my cats, Kit and Kaycee, in Salem, OR at the time. One evening my friend, Jeff, called out of the blue. “I’m staying at Bob Hope’s house in Palm Springs,” he said. “They hired us to roof the house. Do you want to come visit for the weekend?” Just like that. Airline tickets were super cheap at the time. I wasn’t about to say “no,” and my friends Ginger and Jackie weren’t about to let me go without them. So…off to Palm Springs we went…with the understanding we would respect the property and sleep in the staff quarters. That was fine with us!

The back story includes more random coincidence. Jeff was originally from Webster, SD, and I graduated from high school in Clark, SD. Our high school sports teams were in the same district, so played each other...we had no doubt been at some of the same away games for either team. Yet somehow our paths didn’t cross until we were both living in Phoenix, AZ and were introduced by our mutual friend, Scott, who grew up in Huron, SD and lived in Los Angeles, CA at the time. Seriously, how weird is this?

Jeff managed a team in a copper roofing company, and somehow they were the roofers hired, from Phoenix, to handle this particular roofing project. All kinds of weirdness lead to this off-the-wall invitation. This is how life works – sometimes we only see the threads of connection in retrospect.

In 1992, we three gals spent the weekend hanging out with a bunch of hunky roofers in the outdoor pool, the indoor pool and the hot tub, drank many alcoholic beverages, explored Palm Springs, had our first experience with a cell phone, misters over an outdoor café, and had a heckofa lotta fun.

I hope whomever owns the home now appreciates it; it is truly an exquisite house. I loved the outdoor fireplace in the center in particular. The copper roof, if it’s still there, was made with care. I can testify to this – I saw it being crafted!

Bob Hope Quotes: You know you are getting old when the candles cost more than the cake. People who throw kisses are hopelessly lazy. If you haven't got any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble. Authentically Yours, Laura

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