Come on Home

It's hard to believe it's November already. Hard to believe I've been back in California for almost a year. Hard to believe how much life can change in a matter of months.

Since it's nearly Thanksgiving, and since I feel like I am getting reminders from all sides that gratitude is one of the keys to a happy life-I though I would share a few of the reasons I am so grateful for the state I live in.

1. The weather. As I sit here, the sunlight streaming through my bedroom window is making it difficult to read the screen. Bless you annoying sunshine. I never got enough of you when I lived in Boston. It's 70 degrees outside with a light breeze off the ocean. I'm not sure I could ever get tired of days like this one. And lovely California, they seem to be just about all you know how to do.

2. Proximity. Salt Lake is close. Close enough to drive, close enough for plane tickets to be reasonably priced. Close enough for surprise birthday visitors, for weekends in St. George, for sibling Thanksgivings, and the whole family getting to welcome Logan home in January.

3. The peeps. I have said before and I'll say again-the friends I made in Boston were golden. But how hilarious is it that since I left, two of them moved to SF, one to Texas, one to Utah and one came here to HB. And quite a few of my remaining favorites have West Coast ties. Birds of a feather or whatever.

4. The beach. I never ever get tired of the beach. Every Saturday morning I go for a long run down by the water and every single time I want to cry because I love it so much. I love it during the day, I love it at night, I love watching it, I love being in it, I love the way it smells, I love the way it sounds, I love it when it's sunny, I love it when it's stormy. I love watching children and dogs try to make friends with it. I love it when it's full of surfers and when the sun sets over it. I feel incredibly lucky to live four blocks away from it and that I get to see it pretty much every day.

There is a little part of my soul that is slightly disappointed in myself for loving it here so much. That part sort of wishes that I was a sophisticated city girl living it up in Manhattan. And when I am actuallly IN Manhattan I can usually channel her and I start thinking I should give it a shot. Then I land at John Wayne airport and open the sunroof on PCH and stop for a fish taco and I realize I'm home.

As is often the case with me, I have a song to describe how I feel about this place. This band was a recommendation from a friend of a friend. They are from Salt Lake and after looking at their My Space page, it turns out the drummer is an old friend from a zillion lifetimes ago. I'm glad I only heard this song recently. If I had known it in Boston I just might have lost my mind.Enjoy!