Not Ready to Leave

Our time in California is quickly coming to an end, and honestly, I am not ready to leave. I know I have been here for about 6 weeks, but it feels more like two. Time certainly flies when you are mostly having fun. I would probably stay longer, but there are some pressing issues I need to attend to in Texas. Besides, I am not sure that a working vacation is considered "real life." Then again, who wants to deal with the reality of life?

One of my friends from Texas called about 2 weeks ago to see how we are doing. She jokingly asked me if I plan to stay indefinitely, because she knows that I am not exactly the kind of person that establishes roots. I had to laugh. I really like Texas, besides I just can't imagine how people can afford to live in San Diego.

After talking to her, I decided to do some simple price checking. First, every item in the grocery store seems to be at least $1 more than it is in Texas. Also, gas is about $0.40 a gallon more. Now for the big things, a tiny studio apartment is slightly more than we pay for our mortgage, property taxes, and home owners association fees put together. There is also a little church on the corner by my mom's house that has a child care program. I checked out their website and discovered that sending one child there 2 half days a week costs the same a month as sending my two kids to 3 days from 9am to 2:30pm. That was a big shocker. I didn't look into anything else, but I am guessing that things like car insurance and utilties are substantially more too.

So, HATS off to the Californians for finding a way to make it all work. I know there is no way to put a price on some of the benefits like the beach, moderate weather all year, and of course the ability to go to SeaWorld every day for one low price. I will miss it all.

**Should I even mention that the thought of adding California to the list of states I've lived in seems exciting? Yes, I am crazy.