Welcome to the World Headquarters of Coupeville Sports.
I’m not big on change, apparently.
I’ve lived my entire life in Washington state, with 36 of those 54 years here on Whidbey Island — the last 20 residing in the same duplex on the shores of Penn Cove.
It used to be a candy store back in the day, and a beach shack before that.
I arrived on the corner of Sherman and Madrona in time for the second season of Lost and have remained here through two sets of landlords, several next-door neighbors, and at least four mailboxes — only three of which have been exploded by wayward drivers.
Being a converted beach shack, it often doesn’t hold its heat very well in the winter but catches enough breeze skipping off the mussel rafts in the water below to stay cool for all but a few days in the “sunnier” months.
I’m used to it, and it’s used to me.
From the latter part of my video store days through farm and restaurant work, we have endured together.
And, for the past 13 years, it has been the home of “Coupeville Sports.”
My computer setup has moved from the bedroom to the living room over the years, with furniture changing, and — over the course of the last year — 7,000+ DVDs/Blue-Rays coming to reside on 34 bookshelves.
I live in a video store now, something which is both sublime and stupid all at the same time.
Videoville is never coming back in reality, but, for relatively few bucks, I recreated it for a moment.
But things have been thrown asunder of recent, and it’s sent me drifting in a deep funk.
My sister, brother-in-law, and three nephews, who lived in Freeland the past seven years, suddenly moved to West Virginia in April.
I have kept the blog going for 13 years, and 12,105 articles, by being willing to live on a few pennies here and there. There were far more positives than negatives over the years.
But losing daily, or semi-daily, contact with my nephews has forced me to reflect on things.
I can keep the blog going, I can attempt to scrape by on sporadic donations and side hustles.
Or I can make a big change and go see my nephews continue to grow up in person, while I’m still taller than at least one of them.
Will I adjust to wild West Virginia weather after a lifetime of living in the fairly serene Pacific Northwest? I guess we’ll see.
So, this is a long way to get around to confirming that yes, this is the end of Coupeville Sports. And the start of something else.
I’m not 100% sure when I’ll be on a train heading East, duffel bag in hand, but it will be sooner rather than later.
To all of you who supported me over the years, with financial help, or baked goods, or kind words, thank you.
If anyone wants to help me ease down that long and winding road, you can always celebrate the legacy of Coupeville Sports with a final visit to:
Venmo: David-Svien
PayPal: https://paypal.me/DavidSvien?country.x=US&locale.x=en_US
And if you know someone interested in swinging a deal for a whole lot of movies, well, there’s that, too.
