It’s been nearly a month since Megan, Stoney, and I packed the car to drive off across America. And it’s been 4 weeks now that we’ve been living in our San Diego house… not quite a month but closing in on it.
So how is it going? In a nutshell it’s going great. We are slowly getting used to a different lifestyle in Southern California. In some ways SoCal is foreign to us and in other ways we feel like we blend in.
Here’s a typical day in our house. We get up at about 6:15. That’s after a restless night of sleep… the sprinklers still wake us up at 4:00 AM every morning. Technically either Kristen or I gets up at 5:30 to head to the gym depending on who’s day it is. So days start early.
Mornings are quiet. We make coffee. I like to sit on the back patio and watch the animals explore the yard while doing my morning internet rituals. Eventually the kids get up and we start getting them ready for school. Around 7:40 I leave for the office while Kristen gets ready to march the kids up the hill to school.
Days at YS are pretty much like work anywhere else. Everyone tries to get stuff done between meetings, we go to lunch, and then we do more work between meetings. It just so happens that the work and meetings I am doing are the most enjoyable stuff I’ve ever done.. but other than that it is pretty similar to working anywhere else in my life.
Somewhere between 4:30 and 5:30 I head home. On days Kristen keeps the car she comes to get me while other days I just drive home while listening to NPR. (How is this different from life in Romeo again?) I love it when Kristen comes to pick me up as the kids actually come into the office to find me. They love YS! It’s full of people who love talking to them as well as a big candy jar by the front desk. They bring the fun and then steal me to go home.
The evenings are pretty basic. We have dinner, we walk the dog, we watch some TV, we go to bed. At least once a week I like to take the dog to the beach so he can run around and smell other dogs butts, chase other dogs, and pretty much just run free at Dog Beach without a leash.
We go to bed pretty early.
Weekends. Friday night has become our family date night. We try to take the kids somewhere fun… we may introduce a movie to this night as Fall progresses. On either Saturday or Sunday we go to the beach. Other than that we don’t do much. Even when we go to the beach we’re only going for 2-3 hours. For some reason we’ve started the habit of going at about 2 and leaving by about 5. That seems to be just enough time for us.
Dear Lord, Kristen and I need our date night back. It’s nice with the kids but… yeah.
So what’s different? The big point of contrast is that our lives are so simple. Life has really slowed down for me. (Conventions are coming!) In Romeo I was always running somewhere. Either for the church or YMX or family stuff… I never got to just chill out. So far it’s been nice to “reset” and just enjoy the cool breezes on the porch, watch the birds in the trees, spy on the cat eating something in the yard, etc.
Other things are very different. San Diego is a true melting pot. There are oodles of other cultures everywhere you go. I have been comparing San Diego (in my mind) to a bunch of European cities I’ve visited. Lots of languages, lots of types of foods, lots of polite “I have no idea what to say” smiles in shops. The abundance of ethnic foods is awesome.
I dig the weather… I mean, who doesn’t? Mornings are typically overcast with a “marine layer” and sometimes that means it is foggy. So mornings will have near 100% humidity until that burns off. When the sun comes out just before lunch it warms up and true Southern California emerges. It gets to about 90 at the YS offices… but never seems to be above 80 at home.
I’ve mentioned the beach several times because I like going there so much. Each time I drive down there I have this “I live here” moment! The waves are typically calm enough the splash around in and the water isn’t warm like in Florida… but so far it’s been warm enough to swim in.
What else is different? Well, we live in a city now. So yards are smaller, houses are smaller, cars are smaller… pretty much everything is smaller and more dense. It is weird to hear your neighbors talking. We have a neighbor who regularly has karaoke nights… that’s fun right there.
We live near San Diego State so sometimes we get exposed to gems like Kristen uncovered the other day at the store. Generally, food is cheaper but everything else is more expensive than in Michigan. Tropical plants are different than Michigan… we have a massive ficus tree in our backyard that would only be 4 feet tall in someone’s house in Macomb County.
This may be the most rambling post of my life. 900 words. Yikes. 901. 902.
Leave a Reply