moving

Last week I gave notice to my work.  I'm quitting.  By mid-August we will be in Portland, Oregon.  It'll be two years behind our original schedule.

We were supposed to move the fall after George was born.  I was going to graduate, pass my board exam, and then have George all with in a six week stretch back in 2010.  I'd have six months to stay at home with him full-time while I got my license and looked for a job in Oregon.  That plan disintegrated pretty quickly in March of that same year.  After he died I was emotionally incapable of leaving the home that we had built here.

I'm ready now, for the most part, I think.  But the nostalgia for a city that I haven't even left yet has already started to kick in.  I've lived here, in different parts of the city, for the better part nearly thirteen years.  For all its faults, Los Angeles is a pretty fucking rad place to live while you're young.

I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't nervous about the move.  My parents, my sister and her daughters are all less than a couple hours drive from my house so I see them fairly frequently.  My sister and I are very close and I love my nieces like they were my own.  The thought of leaving them makes me sick to my stomach.

We've made really amazing friends here too.  Some are the kind of friends you know that only come along once or twice in a lifetime.

Oh, and the weather.  The lovely, lovely, sunny weather.  As a Californian, born and raised, the adjustment to the cold and rainy weather in Portland is going to be a huge adjustment for me.

But there is so much to look forward to as well.  Leif's entire family lives within a forty minute drive of Downtown Portland.

It looks like two of our best friends -another set that only comes along once or twice in a lifetime- are coming home to Portland from The Netherlands the same time we are moving there.  Which, I admit, I cried a little out of excitement at the thought of being able to live near them again and being able to watch our kids grow up together (no pressure Natalie but you better be coming home...lol).

We will finally be able to buy our own home.  Maybe, just maybe, my dream of owning a big chunk of property with a renovated barn and lots of room for guests will come true while we live there.
And, of course, Portland is just about the most awesome city I've ever been to (Barcelona a close second).    So there is that too.

You'll have to excuse me if over the next three months I get a little weepy around here while we prepare to move.  I can't help it.  I'm gonna miss Los Angeles.

P.S.  Also, if you know of any tricks to make a move to another state easier I'd love to hear them.