California is my home

They say home is where your heart is. My heart is here now.. with my new family.. yet every once in a lonely while, my subconscious still insists on dreaming about going "back home". I want to say it's more than just the weather.. the satirical fact that one can enjoy the beach the first half of the day and then take pleasure in a hot chocolate at snowy Big Bear mountain that same night. I miss my family. I miss my friends. I miss the culture. I miss GOOD Thai food. I miss listening to KROQ. I miss the salsa clubs. I miss watching the fireworks at downtown Disney. I miss the animal style In N Out cheeseburgers with grilled onions. I miss Dennys. I miss having bonfires at the beach. I miss watching the crazy KTLA morning news. I miss boba..... mmmmmmm.... yes, I miss sucking those sticky balls through over-sized straws. *sigh*

Sure, Mike and I talk about moving back eventually.. weighing in the pros and cons -- but slowly, we're starting to realize that the same alluring factors that would convince us to go back might be outweighed by the diminishing dream of owning a real estate. I am ademant about not going back to live in a one bedroom apartment in the "909" -- which seems to be the only affordable place in Southern California that is still fairly close to the city, without ACTUALLY living in the desert. The move has allowed us a hefty upgrade to a three-bedroom and 1.5 bath townhouse in the "rich" area of the mountain state. All our bills had been cut in half, and although I spent quite a bit of time unemployed when we first moved, we were still able to live more than moderately just with Mike's income. I don't think I'd be saying the same if we were living back in California.

We want a house. And if anything is going to prevent us from going back home, that would be it. Decent starter houses now cost as much as $400,000... and for that kind of money here in West Virginia, you could own a mansion and have more acres of land than you can handle. The idea of living in the middle of the desert in a prefab 1,200-square-foot home, stretching ourselves financially and driving three hours a day, doesn't seem all too appealing, and might not be a worth-while sacrifice.