We’re still in boxes. I suspect we will be in quite some time. Longer than I’m sure I’ll want to admit here. Once our keys to our old apartment were returned, the need-to-finish-things feelings have quickly dissipated. For the first time in a long time there’s no need to rush.

I love relaxing in the evenings, even surrounded by boxes. I love falling asleep to the serenade of crickets rather than the sound of sirens. I love that it takes half the time to drive to new daycare, even though the raw distance is the same. I love that we can make a quick store when I didn’t realize we were almost out of bread, and still be home in less than a half hour.

This is my happy place.

But is it Home?

When we first started planning our exit from Silicon Valley we considered moving out of state. It’s been a dream of mine to return to the East Coast for quite some time. I miss the seasons. I miss thunderstorms and muggy summer afternoons. I even miss snow, something I never thought I’d admit. The possibility of such a move was the real reason I spent so much time organizing. But moving across the country with two small children, including a newborn, felt impossible. We need a place to live right away, and daycare. Waiting lists can be months long, as I soon found out. Places that look great online sometimes underwhelm in person. We could do a house hunting trip one weekend, but who knows if an offer would be accepted, or how long the close process would take. Everyone we know who had accomplished such a move had to send one of the adults ahead to set up shop. That arrangement didn’t work for us. So we put the idea of a big East Coast move on a back burner and started looking local.

We were both a little worried our move would feel like the defeat of missing out on our cross country trek rather than the step up from apartment back to a house.

This afternoon I was driving to the store. The marine layer had come in, along with it a cool humid breeze. It reminded me of the fall back East. As I drove I started thinking about Thanksgiving, and how the last time I had been on this road was the fall prior to our move to Silicon Valley. I thought of our past falls here in the East Bay, my favorite time of year. I thought about the last Black Friday where we shopped in person, at the very store I was on my way to visit. I thought ahead to this year’s Holiday season, picturing the tree by the fireplace. Our fireplace.

Yes, I am home.

Posted in Life