But then, so is life. And since I am about to head off down a new and different life path, registering the experience in print seems like a good idea. Because life, I have learned after several decades of twirling through it, is largely a process of making it up as you go along. Making a break with the past and heading off in a whole new direction is hardly unique to me: possibly everyone who lives long enough does it at least once in their life, and there are as many ways to do it as there are people doing it.
But this is the story of how I'm doing it -- or rather, how we are doing it, since I'm making this leap with my beloved husband and our rather suspicious cat. And we're not doing anything all that exotic: we're not embarking on a mission to the Third World, nor are we about to sell all our belongings and circle the globe in our sailboat.
Nope, we're going to Idaho.
We currently live in Southern California, in a quite lovely little 'burb nestled against the foothills a bit east of Pasadena. We have a big, even somewhat grand house (five bedrooms plus an office and a wine cellar), with nearly an acre of land, a nice big pool, lots of palm and avocado trees, lovely porches and patios just perfect for entertaining, the whole bit.
And we are SO over it. For reasons which will no doubt seep out gradually as these posts continue, we just really, really, need to move on. We are so very eager to have LESS -- less yard, less house, less maintenance, less...well, just less.
When you live in a place that's as full of itself as So Cal, and where, after all, it's 85 degrees in March and there are flowering trees and graceful palms silhouetted against the snow-topped San Gabriel mountains, it's amusing to take in the responses you get when you announce that you plan to move to Idaho. They tend to fall into one of several categories, as follows:
- Idaho? What's in Idaho?
- Have you been there in the winter?
- That's a pretty red state, you know...
- I know someone in Idaho!
- Oh, yeah, Idaho, man, everybody's moving to Idaho.
- What are you going to DO in Idaho?
Plus, you get a lot of unsolicited advice on the dismal state of the housing market, but that's another topic.
We are forging ahead. The house is all dolled up for buyers, we're planning how to pack our stuff and disperse much of our furniture, and, Lord willing, we're going. To Idaho, the land of big clear skies and pristine mountains and no theme parks and famous potatoes.
Wish us luck...
