While I was away, we celebrated our year anniversary of California living. The timing was such that it serendipitously coincided with the sale of our home back East and with that, severing any ties to the Garden State, holla!
I loved our house and my friends, but super suburban living is not for us. Seventeen miles from downtown Manhattan and it couldn't be any more different; an idyllic life for miss A, but not for us, for very different reasons. M couldn't take the commute anymore - the depressing and crazed ambiance that is rush hour at Penn Station is nothing you've ever experienced until you have. A literal crush of people combined with extreme weather, (super hot and humid summers, freezing winters), the trains have issues and on the very best days, it would take 75 minutes one way. It's pretty hard core when the driving in Los Angeles seems better.
I floundered in the six years of life in our sweet town, I see that now. I was isolated and I'm fairly certain depressed and it took me a long time to acclimate and find a balance that felt comfortable. That said, I found my creative voice again and I had exactly what I wanted, (at the time), with my acupuncture practice. We owned a beautiful home that we remodeled to an ideal for us, and it was good and most likely the last home we'll own. We both really like the idea of not being tied down to a place, even though we feel very much rooted in this community for the long haul, read: Miss A graduates high school. M likes to joke that we're living off the grid, which is ridiculous, but makes me laugh.
Living in New Jersey gave us a glimpse at what we thought we wanted and realized wasn't for us. As much as I love NYC and would have gone back in a red hot minute, Los Angeles suits our family. Miss A had no intention of going back to city living and I'm sure M would have gone, but he also spent over twenty years there and he has said on numerous occasions that he feels like he's done.
Life in Los Angeles is pretty fantastic and much better than I'd imagined, even though it's where I grew up. (Literally, we're back in my home town.) In theory you have a bit more living space and there's the possibility of a house with a yard, even as renters. L.A. is a foodie town and with the abundance of fresh almost year round, I don't take it for granted when I'm eating a nice ripe avocado in the dead of winter. The added bonus of course is that I get the best of both worlds: a suburban life in the middle of a major metropolis.
Even though I haven't made a lot of friends, even though I'm alone equally as much as I was in New Jersey, I'm not lonely. The scent of the sea wafting in our windows, the blue skies and desert terrain combined with the grit and hub that is Los Angeles, provides opportunity everywhere.
Maybe it's because this is home. There's a familiarity that allows me to navigate freely because the map has been imprinted; roaming and exploring becomes almost secondary.
