Moving

In a recent discussion about my move from Los Angeles to Nashville a friend of mine told me with a sinister smile that he'd seen a study that stated the only things more stressful than moving are a death in your family or divorce. We'll I'm here to dispute those findings. The ranking by itself may be accurate but it fails to consider that moving could easily also cause death or divorce. The stress of the move is a little too fresh to go into without my blood pressure spiking so I'll have to save those details for a future posting.

What I Will Miss About California

Sarah and I are very sad about leaving California. We will miss:

seeing the doe and her twin fawns graze on Pepperdine's expansive lawn...the weather...dinner on the beach at Gladstone's, Malibu Seafood, Duke's, Goeffrey's and The Chart House...seeing dolphins from the beach...watching gray whales in Santa Monica Bay on their migration...our annual trip to the Piedras Blancas elephant seal colony in San Simeon...Saturday mornings at Noah's and Jamba Juice...Jerry's Famous Deli at any time of the day or night...Slippery Shrimp at Yang Chow...Pacific Coast Highway...Malibu Canyon...the wild parrot flock in Malibu (yes, there are parrots in Malibu)...being close to the wine country...the view from nearly anywhere on Pepperdine's campus...Leo Carillo Beach...good sushi...the Santa Monica farmers market...the ocean mist in late afternoon...Trader Joe's grocery store...and I'm sure many, many other things...

Home

Home. This word has revived meaning for me today. Home is so much more than where you live; it is where you belong. I was raised in Fort Worth, Texas. In fact, I lived in Texas for the first 22 years of my life but for some reason Texas feels no longer feels like home. Sarah and I have lived in Los Angeles for eight of our ten years of marriage but for some reason Los Angeles no longer feels like home. Home for me and my family is Nashville, Tennessee. That's where we belong.

Today I resigned my position at Pepperdine University and I am moving my family home to Nashville. Nashville is home to me for several reasons. My parents have been in Nashville for eight years and it seems that nearly all of my closest friends in the world live there. Soon my sister and brother in law may live there too.

I will deeply miss California but its not my home anymore...