Monday, July 23, 2012

Hello, San Diego


We moved into a new home in San Diego in July. It's a big change.


I did not expect to leave San Francisco or to live in San Diego. The first time I visited here, I did not like it. When I returned for a second visit, many years later, it was not my choice of destination. But the place charmed me, unexpectedly. It's hard to resist friendly people and warm weather. Later on, we decided to try living here.


We live in Carmel Valley, which opens to the ocean at Torrey Pines beach and runs eastward. The land channels pleasant ocean breezes to our neighborhood. 



Each day we work at settling in and exploring. All three of us ride bikes along a long, paved bike path through the valley. 


So far life has been good here. The big decision still scares me a little. In my past experience, stepping forward, stepping outward has always led to good things, but not always directly. I'm reminded of an article in GQ magazine that explained this issue of when to jump in life.


It strikes me that Willy survived all her epochs because she was . . . .  just better at cutting to the chase than were her companions, whoever they were. In some way, her secret has been always to decide. She decided to marry people. She decided to work. She decided to move to Lisbon. And she decided to have fun. It's the sort of honesty that one could use as fuel to motor through many different epochs in life.

Guy Martin, Travels With An Expat, GQ, March 1992










4 comments:

Lynne Rutter said...

You just wait til winter sets it, when it's a grueling 68 degrees every damned day . The constant pleasantness, the space, the fresh food, the beautiful healthy people all over the place. You will run out of things to complain about and you will loose your urban edge. you will start painting pelicans on stumps without even being ironic about it.

John Paul Turnage said...

Divine Ms. R,
I tremble with fear. Thank you for the warning!
jpt

Anonymous said...

John Paul, thank you for the post. San Francisco misses you but, over the years, has got used to saying good bye. I look forward to seeing how your new life unfolds. Blog on my friend.

Unknown said...

So you like many of our other friends have bailed out of SF. Congrats to your move to SD. We are still here in the Swampland of Stinkadena. Life is okay, the Professor is hanging in there, and I am doing fine.