Background….I am an Air Force Brat. An Air Force Officer’s Brat. An Air Force Officer Chaplain’s Brat (but that’s a whole nother post). I moved around a LOT. Even after I moved out of my parents house, I still moved. N and I got together in 1995 and since then have moved eight times. Damn. The most important of those moves was from Colorado to California.
California. I lived there for eight years. The longest I lived anywhere. I consider it my home. And we left. Why? Well, N got a gig in Chicago, and at the time we were kind of sick of the California “lifestyle”. Monterey is M.O.N.E.Y. Hella HUGE money. And probably the only place where N could find work in CA was San Jose. Blech. After Monterey, even San Jose sucks.
So off to Chicago, which long story short.. COLD!!!!!!!!!! FARKIN COLD!!! I could NOT get out of there fast enough. I miss my PMoms sooo freakin much tho. So we moved to Texas. It seems with each move we get further and further into hell. Honestly, most days it doesn’t bother me. Ok so most people here are right wing religious freaks. But I’m finding some shades of “blue” and godlessness here and there. Tolerable. Hell I went to high school and two years of college in Oklafreakinhoma, so I know hell. This is a ring but it is NOT hell.
So what’s my problem? I MISS California. Oh noodley FSM I miss it. Thinking about Monterey makes my heart ache. It’s an actual physical pain. Why? You would think after three years it wouldn’t hurt so much. Just thinking about the Tuesday farmer’s market makes me want to bust into tears. But there’s no way we could go back. Even if we had the funds to move there and miracles of miracles I found a job (N works from home), we could never afford a house and we would always just be scraping by. I moved here for the kids. I want to be able to afford to buy *I*swimming lessons, gymnastics, soccer, whatever. N2’s obviously going to play football (have you SEEN this child), he’s already learned how to “take a knee” at 15 months. I wouldn’t be able to do this stuff in CA, and plus Grandma, Pa-pa, Nanny and Opa are here. Having the kids see their grandparent’s all the time is something I never got. I want them to.
The question is (man I’m wordy tonight)….how to I come to terms with this. To paraphrase Shifu from Kung Fu Panda (freakin funny—watch it) “I need to be at peace”. We’re in Texas…for the long haul unless something radical happens. How do I deal? How do I make it my home?
But when I die, cremate me and take me back to the ocean.