Thanks for the memories

Today was a beautiful day.  Clear, warm, breezy.  American flags blowing in front of houses throughout the neighborhood in honor of Memorial Day.  Gianna and I took a lovely walk and stopped to talk to several long time neighbors.  We passed by her school, which was also my school and my uncles' school. When we got home we raised our flag up the pole.  As I stood back and looked at the view, it made me start to think of the things I am most going to miss when we move.  I've been so busy thinking about why I want to move (also know as 'the stuff I can't wait to leave') that I haven't really taken the time to think about what I'll miss when we're gone.

• Family and friends:  Family is always first on any list of things that I value.  Friends fall into a close second. It's obvious why I'll miss family and friends and doesn't take much more explanation.
• Church:  We attend the most amazing church; I'm a little spoiled.  Truly, it's like an extended family.  I will miss the wise, intelligent preaching, the fabulous camaraderie, the commitment to service.  Big, big shoes to fill.  While I know that we'll find a new church home, there will never be any place else like Trinity Evangelical Free Church.
• Topography:  California is so vast and so rich in it's topography.  Anyone who has been on "Soaring Over California" has seen the stunning coastline and the spectacular mountains (REAL mountains...sorry Smokies.  5,000ft does not a mountain make), the beauty of the central valley and the stark appeal of our deserts.  From where I sit, in an hours time I can be in the desert, the forest, the city, the ocean.  The lack of options will surely be missed.
• The scent of orange blossoms.  'nuff said.
• The Redlands  Bowl: One of our favorite places to be every summer is on the south lawn of the Redlands Bowl watching the symphony or opera or annual musical.  This place has been paramount in the nurturing of my daughter' love of the arts.  Many, many treasured moments have taken place in the audience, picnic dinner in hand.  
• Dance Spectrum: When I was growing up at the dance studio in Yucaipa there was another girl, about five years older than me, who we all looked up to.  She was talented, graceful, poised and most importantly, she was humble and down to earth.  I grew up wanting to be like her on stage and for the last four years my daughter has had the privilege of taking dance lessons from her.  Pearl, you are wonderful and we'll miss what you and your staff have to share.
• Disneyland: I figured out once that I've been to Disneyland over 150 times in my life.  I know that place like the back of my hand.  Nothing else feels quite as magical as crossing the gates and making your way under the bridge and onto Main Street.  Every single time you do it a tingle goes up your spine.  Thank you Walt for your vision and for sharing it with the child in all of us.
• The University of Redlands: I never would have thought when I got hired a decade (wow) ago that the upscale, prestigious institution in my own backyard would be so welcoming and friendly. The bulldog family is as tight knit as they come.  If it weren't for this move I'm sure I'd have been a bulldog forever.  So many treasured friendships have been formed there and Gianna has grown up on the fields and sidelines of the U of R.  I will miss it immensely.....but I'll be back, breaking out the maroon and grey for homecoming.
• Oak Glen:  How easy it is to take for granted something as wonderful as Oak Glen when it is only ten minutes from your house.  It won't be the same without a trip up in the fall to eat apple pie and browse through Mrs. Laws' gift shop.  The old school house with its wonderful playground, the hiking trails at Los Rios and the petting zoo at Parrish, and where am I going to buy my Wysocki calender now?
• My hood:  From my front window I can see the homes of five families who have been neighbors my entire 34 years.  The Nelsons, The DeJagers, The Martins, The Carlsons and The Allens.  They are all people who I know and trust and they were a large part in the all American style childhood that I experienced.  I will really miss those long term contacts.  
• 33708: 40 years ago in October my grandparents bought this house.  And for 40 years it has been filled with laughs, yelling, food, family and love.  Some of my earliest and most precious memories take place in this home.  Riding the ATVs with Uncle Jon in the front yard--leaving for the beach to go body surfing with Uncle Jamie (at 4:30 in the morning...sheesh)--coming over for Grandpa's stuffed cabbage for Sunday dinner--putting  up ceramic pumpkins in the front window on Halloween night--looking through catalogs with Grandma--dancing with Becky in the living room--swimming all summer long with Amber--stepping on pecans and picking up the worms (seed pods that the tree drops) from the kitchen floor--my wedding--bringing Gianna home from the hospital.....this house is like a member of the family and it is the longest relationship that I've been in. Leaving home will literally mean leaving my home.

But for every thing that I'll miss, opportunity awaits to create new memories and form new relationships.  I know that God is in control of this whole process and that wonderful things await my family in Tennesse.  Most importantly, the move will offer the greatest gift of all....a whole, new stash of antique shops from which to purchase endless supplies of 'new' antique furniture.  See, there is always a silver (or in this case linen) lining.

Soon to be a Volunteer

Preparing to move away from the town (the house) that you've lived in your whole life makes you take pause and reflect.  I always thought I'd live in California, in Yucaipa forever.  I was never one of the people who was aching to get out.  I always liked it here and thought it was a great place to live.

It's funny how things evolve.  The changes that have made me want to move have been subtle ones, taking place over the course of many moons.  I think back over the years I spent admiring the orange groves from the living room window; the flickering lights of the smudge pots; the stacks of white boxes, organized by the bee keepers; the intoxicating scent of the blossoms.  All gone now.  In their place, acre upon acre of shopping center.  No longer do I see people riding their horses down the street.  No longer do I go to the grocery store and find an impromptu high school reunion.

Gianna will never get to experience the thrill of driving down the hairpin turn on the way to school or the fun of speeding through the dips on Ave. E, or D, or F (heck, Ave. F doesn't even exist anymore).  The fields I once rode through on my bike or an ATV with my uncles are now row upon row of houses that look exactly the same.   Buying an ice cream cone from Thrifty or yarn from Cornet, a t-shirt from T,G&Y or a letterman's jacket from Sport Shack....experiences that are shared with fewer and fewer people.  The charm seems to have faded from the city.  Perhaps that's the problem.  Yucaipa is a thriving city; no longer the sweet town of my youth.

Forever will I miss the Yucaipa of old.  But change is inevitable and so I will be making the biggest change of my life in 48 short days.  I will always be grateful that I grew up in this beautiful, green valley.  And the mountains' constant vigil keep are the memories I hold so dear.  The people I met, the places I went and the things I saw here as a young person have shaped who I am now, and for that I am thankful.  But I also want those things for my daughter - for her childhood to be filled with carefree days.  So, inevitably, a change needs to be made.

California, here I go.