The end of the beginning

“This is not the end. This is not even the beginning of the end. It is, instead, the end of the beginning” – Winston Churchill.

 

So…we’re moving.

It’s all happened very quickly, and it makes me very sad, so I haven’t wanted to write about it. But since the girls and I get on a plane in one week, I thought I should mention something here, on my blog.

Matt landed an incredible new job, and since he’s in the tech industry, this incredible job is located in Santa Clara, California.

This move is surreal on so many levels, not the least of which is this strange feeling that life has just taken me in a big circle.

I was born in the bay area and lived there, quite happily, until I was eleven. Then my dad’s job moved our family to Portland, Oregon, which I’ve considered “home” ever since. Even during my three year foray to Sacramento for school, Portland was where both my sisters and my parents lived, and so it remained “home”.

Well, my first sister and her new husband moved to Houston in 2008, followed by my parents in 2009. My second (and last) sister finished up her nursing degree and then moved to Denver in 2011. I’m the last member of my family here in Portland, and I’ve been happy to remain here, and start a family of my own.

Sure, the city gets on my nerves sometimes, with its horribly outdated speed limits, its out-of-touch legislation, and 300+ days of rain per year, but overall, it’s a really great place to live. The hardest part of our move to California, by far, is that after nearly 17 years of calling Portland “home”, it really, truly, will no longer merit that distinction.

There is A LOT that I’m looking forward to about living in the Bay. 300+ days of SUNSHINE is certainly near the top of my list! At the moment, though, I’m feeling rather melancholy over the change. Luckily, I have mountains of boxes to pack and an entire house to clean, while simultaneously trying to keep life semi-normal for the girls.

Wish me luck during this next week. We still have 99% of our packing/cleaning to do. Yikes!