“Wherever you go, go with all your heart!” -Confucius
Updated: Nov 4, 2022
There was a time I couldn't imagine living anywhere else than tucked away in our little ramshackle beach house in Capitola. Watching my babies grow up in the sand was truly priceless. Well, life has a funny way of completely redirecting you at any given point.
If you live in the Bay Area, then you may have experienced the jigsaw puzzle of fitting together pieces of life like career, home ownership, kids' school attendance, and social connections. Now, fundamentally, most of the aforementioned variables follow work (read PAYCHECK) as the foundational dictator of all things. After seven years as a Principal in Cupertino, an unexpected opportunity came knocking by way of the San Ramon Valley...
Had we stayed in Capitola, we had made the decision to bring our kids to Cupertino for their schools of enrollment. With that decision, came the prospect of three out of four members commuting EVERYDAY from 6:30 to 5:30 five days a week. Hence, when the opportunity came to promote to a director position in San Ramon, coupled with nearly a decade of commuting that potentially would soon include my children, we threw caution to the wind and packed a Uhaul!
To be sure, we rented our house in Capitola. We weren't about to give up that property. So we are once again renters; but my work, our house, and the kids' schools are all within a five mile radius of one another. That's super cool! I mean good for my health, I can't believe I commuted HWY 17 for a decade kinda COOL! And here's the thing, the beach was amazing, but so many of the other parts of the jigsaw puzzle were not fitting together. Since we've been here (two months) and the kids have started school; everyone is literally thriving!
To be fair, it wasn't all roses out of the gates. We've all navigated grief and anxiety in our own way. I will say two months later, most of these feelings have faded. To be sure, we all miss the beach, but I don't miss 55 degree July mornings when it is literally raining fog. Personally, and directly related to this blog, I MISS the Santa Cruz Mountain Biking trails I have so grown to love. No offense to the East Bay scene, lush singletrack with big burley rock gardens and redwood log drops are a little far and few between out here on the I680 corridor. That having been said, there are some amazing trails, big leg-crushing climbs, and crazy awesome vistas. I am having no issue staying in the saddle. Let's also acknowledge I put myself an hour and a half closer to the Sierra Nevada Mountains!
Given the opportunity for exploration, I took a day off from the office last week and headed up the famous climb to the top of Mt. Diablo. Rocked that hardtail MTB all the way to the top; full of sideways looks from the roadie spandex crew! So as the title of this post goes; I've embraced change fully with an open heart and am so excited for our family's new chapter in life!
