I saw dolphins

I knew months in advance that I would be moving here. I didn't know exactly what that meant, but I knew it was coming. I expected to miss my family and the wonderful people I know and love back in Oregon. Now that I'm here though, I've come to feel some unanticipated losses, little things I didn't see coming in all my preparation to leave.

I miss my 4runner. A lot. Sure it doesn't get the greatest gas milage in the world, but I spent a lot of quality time with that car. We understood each other. I knew how to drive it, how to park it, where the e-brake is, that the lights turn off when you open the door... I miss that car. And although Landon's shiny Sentra is a nice, zippy car... I'm still learning to appreciate it. Stupid stick shift.

I miss my fully stocked kitchen. After finding myself defending the merits of non-stick cookie sheets to Landon last week (plus feeling very lost in the grocery store), I really miss the kitchen in my parents house. So many cupboards.... so many demarle sheets and pans, and all the ingredients you would need sitting there waiting to be made into something yummy... and even when we declared there "was no food in the house", there was still food in the house. You had to work a little harder but there was definitely still food there.

I miss a predictable shower. I love my new home but the shower is like a hotel shower- you never really know what you're going to get. And each time you turn it on it's a different amount of adjustment to get it just right... and that's if it's cooperating.

I miss my dining table. Trust me, when you don't have one, you notice it's gone.

The table is one of the last things on our list to complete our home, so I'm not too worried about that. Landon fashioned us a wonderful make-shift table for the meantime out of rubbermaid bins and a whiteboard, so we can at least sit down to eat together when the opportunity presents itself.

Of course there are a lot of things I like about being here as well. It's sunny and a generally nice temperature outside just about all of the time. We're only a couple of miles from the beach so it's very pretty and I love being so close to the ocean (even though I don't go in it). We were driving down the 101 yesterday and Landon says "hey look, dolphins." and sure enough, I saw dolphins surfing in the waves. I felt a little silly to be so excited but I had never seen dolphins before. Downtown is pretty cool too, with all the shops and restaurants- and free parking under 75 minutes. I like that our neighbors have wind chimes, and I like all the trees. I love our home- despite a temperamental bathroom, we are very blessed to be here.

After living in just one place for so long you start to find even mundane things interesting enough to stick out to you at a new location- like an abundance of screen doors, or an usually large population of obnoxious birds.