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.