StoryCorps: Sally Manikian (Web Extra)

Pamela: So, I actually think you must have a fascinating story; given that you seem to me to be super smart, pretty worldly and could be almost anywhere. You seem to have this great connection with the White Mountains and your family and so somehow you’re here. And, I mean you were in California so…

Sally: Yeah, and Ireland.

Pamela: And Ireland! Tell me how you got here. What’s going on?

Sally: Where else was I? California, Ireland, Wales; that’s pretty much about it.

Pamela: Well really, that’s quite a ways away from Berlin, New Hampshire.

Sally: I know. Yeah, I know. It’s hard to explain but also kind of easy to explain. Part of it is, I really liked traveling to new places and living in new places. That’s why I never did the backpack throughout Europe in 3 weeks or Southeast Asia in 3 months. I never did any of that. I always moved to a place and lived there for a year, like California or Wales. And I didn’t just want to do a year abroad for college, so I did all four. I thought, "let’s go to Ireland; that would be great." And it was really cool. In some ways you learn more that way; you learn how to adapt quickly and live in new places. Not just travel and [how to] pack your bag quickly or find the best bar, but live some place and build a new community. But after a while I got sick of moving someplace, building a community and then moving somewhere else.

When I was in California, I moved out to California to go to law school after I graduated from college and I thought I wanted to live there. I don’t know why. My final year of University I was in Ireland, in Dublin, where it’s cold and dreary and the buildings are dark and it’s cold and dreary. And I thought I wanted to live in California. And so I applied to law schools in California. I got accepted to a law school in California and I went. I also thought I wanted to go to law school. Turns out neither of those were right. I liked the academics of law school, but didn’t like law school, which is what brought me to my Masters program. So, within 2 months of moving to California I already wanted to leave. So I applied to a Masters program in Wales. And then I got accepted because I wanted to study International Political Theory which is what I studied in my undergrad; cause I have this whole nerdy academic side.

Pamela: Mmm, you really do.

Sally: Yeah, we’ll talk about that later. I was total nerdy-academic-side and, it sounds silly, but I had unanswered academic research questions that I wanted to deal with. And I didn’t want to invest in a 7 year PhD. I wanted to see if I could do it in a Masters Degree.

Another reason why I wanted to come back to New Hampshire was something actually my mother said to me. And there is this great connection I feel with this area. Whenever I am here I never want to be anywhere else. Ever! Whenever I’m somewhere else I can’t wait to be up here. When I lived in California I would dream about being here. When I was in Wales I would have these very vivid dreams about being back in the North Country and working in the mountains. Not because of the sense of freedom, but because I miss the landscape; I miss the trees, I miss the mountains. And, I didn’t grow up here. I grew up in southern New Hampshire. But there’s something that happens when I’m driving north on 93 and right around the Waterville Valley area? something falls away. It’s just this really strong connection. It just feels right and I miss that whenever I’m not here.

My mother would always sit there through all these conversations with me, with me talking about myself, because that’s what mothers do. And I was talking about White Mountains, White Mountains, White Mountains. She said, “Oh, Sally! Now this is something my grandmother said to me and something I’m going to say to you. She was talking about marriage." She says, “When you can’t live without them for a day, then it’s time to get married. Sally, think about that.” And I was like, “Yea, guess so.” So for whatever reason, this area always felt like home. And some people could explain it away, ‘Oh, whenever you’re here it’s because you don’t have a real job.’ Or, ‘Oh, whenever you’re here it’s because, you know, it’s the summertime.’ But it wasn’t that. I really feel like there’s this…just feels right. Whether it will feel like this forever I have no idea. I don’t think that far ahead.