Honk if you love Justice!

I have been following Sarah Z. Wexler’s blog from Cosmo (NO, I do not read Cosmo) about her journey from NYC to Portland. It got me thinking that maybe I should write a little about my journey from DC to CA. Let me tell you… it’s been an adventure. 

 It all begins with the wise words of The Tick: It’s your destiny, Arthur! HUG IT!

That's me on the right.

 

I had to choose a new place to live from a list of specified locations around the country. I already knew well before the list came out that I was going to put Los Angeles as my #1 choice. I wanted to go where the work would be the best and, trust me, if I could have gone overseas right away, I would have. BUT, as it stood, LA was on the list and there was only a couple of slots for it. I put in for LA, San Fran, and Oakland, respectively. Luckily, I got my my #1. 

(for those of you who don't know what I do, I am a very important admin assistant for a waste management company) 

My first time  ever in California was when I came out here to look for a place to live. I wasn’t looking for just any house either, my friends. I needed one big enough to accommodate me, my girls, my almost ex husband, my bestie (ST), and the dog. Yep, we had come up with this hair-brained idea that, since none of us had ever been here before, we’d all shack up for at least the first year while we got settled and learned the area. The primary requirements were that the house be big and on the beach. Keep in mind that it had been well over a year since the almost ex (henceforth, I’ll call him JJ Dynamite) and I had even lived together.

In the 10 days I was out here, I looked at about 20 houses and made a few offers, only to return to VA with nothing but a bit of culture shock and an overall state of confusion. Maybe the most accurate way to capture my feeling upon returning to VA, knowing I was only weeks from heading back to CA permanently, is the attached photo:

Yes, apparently I was both stressed as hell and going insane.

Meanwhile, all my belongings were being shipped out of my Virginia house to storage in California. I watched them pack up, load the truck, and take off. Then, I sat in my empty house, with no sign of any renters yet, and wondered how in the hell I was going to pull this off. 

My girls and I were living in a hotel for about 10 days. This was… interesting. JJ Dynamite was awesome, of course. I cooked meals and did laundry at his apartment. My hotel room was equipped with a kitchen and all, but it was about the size of my pinky toe.

Moving Day: October 24

Finally, moving day arrived. We took two cars: the girls and I in one (the Girl car), and JJ Dynamite and the dog in the other (the Boy car). We would be driving for 8 days in tandem, on a route I painstaking planned, all the way across the USA.

Oh, and by the way… we didn’t have a place to live in CA yet, as I had not yet acquired the perfect home for our unique family situation. So, we were headed for a hotel in CA, and we’d figure out the whole “house deal” once we got here. Should I post the “stress/insanity” photo again? I’ll skip it, but you get the point.

This concludes Entry 1: Jasko leaves Virginia.

 

Stay tuned for Entry 2, which will feature such amazing places as… “uh, we’re still in Virginia,” Tennessee, Arizona, and Ooooooooklahoma! (that was me singing, like in the musical).

In the interim, all I have to say is: 

Mighty Blue Justice!