Sonoma Was Waiting for Me - Emilia Cardon
Emilia’s Sonoma Journey
This is the first of three stories about Emilia’s relationship with Sonoma.
🟩 Sonoma Was Waiting for Me – Chapter 1 (You are reading this story.)
🟥 The Community That Became Home – Chapter 2
Click the story title above to continue Emilia’s journey as she finds Sonoma has become home
🟦 Helping Families Build Community – Chapter 3
After making Sonoma her home, Emilia gives back through her children’s consignment store and later through cafeMac, helping neighbors in different stages of life.
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Long before I moved to Sonoma, my parents had already decided it was where they wanted to spend the rest of their lives. They bought a home here while they were still living in Vermont, and Sonoma became part of our family’s future. When I found myself 19 years old, pregnant, and unsure what came next, I realized the place my parents had chosen was exactly where I needed to begin my own life.
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If you had asked me while I was growing up in Vermont whether I would someday live in Sonoma, I never would have imagined it.
My parents were the first to discover Sonoma.
While my father was still teaching at the University of Vermont, my parents began thinking about where they wanted to retire. During trips to California, they fell in love with Sonoma. They liked its small-town feel, beautiful setting, and slower pace of life. Several years before they actually retired, they bought a home here. Even though they continued living in Vermont, Sonoma had already become part of our family’s future.
As they talked about their plans, Sonoma became familiar to me too. I knew this was the place they had chosen for the next chapter of their lives. I didn’t think much about what that might mean for me, but Sonoma was quietly becoming part of my story long before I ever lived here.
Then my own life changed.
At nineteen, I was pregnant with my first daughter and trying to figure out what the future would look like. Around that same time, my parents were ready to leave Vermont and make Sonoma their permanent home.
Suddenly, the place they had chosen for retirement became the place where I could begin again.
Knowing my parents were here gave me something every young mother hopes for—family nearby. I knew I would have people who loved me, believed in me, and would help me build a future for my daughter.
So in early 2003, I packed everything I owned and drove across the country to Sonoma.
At the time, I thought I was simply moving to be near my parents.
Looking back, I realize I was moving toward a life they had unknowingly made possible years earlier when they first chose Sonoma.
Their decision to make Sonoma their home became the opportunity that allowed me to make Sonoma mine.
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Emilia’s relationship with Sonoma began through her parents, years before she became a resident.
Sometimes a family’s decisions create opportunities for the next generation that no one could have predicted.
Sonoma represented security and support at a pivotal moment in Emilia’s life.
What began as her parents’ retirement destination became the place where Emilia’s adult life would begin.
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This story was created from a recorded conversation between Emilia Cardon and Don Lundgren as part of the Sonoma Stories project. It focuses on the period before Emilia became a Sonoma resident and serves as the first chapter of her Sonoma Journey. The story was developed from her larger interview while preserving her experiences, reflections, and voice. It connects to the next chapter, The Community That Became Home, where Emilia describes building her own life and family in Sonoma.
