This is My Life.

I moved across the country!

In May 2023, at a ripe 23.5 years old, I closed the shop, sold the house, and bought a ticket to the West Coast. (Thank you Billy Joel for releasing My Life in 1978 so I could discover it in 2022, from whence it became my favorite song ever as an ode to my 16 year old self's dreams of moving to California) Mom, I don't need you to worry for me cause I'm alright.

Speaking of my mother, let's reminisce.

Maggie (the mother in reference), also at 23, closed her New Jersey shop and booked it across the country with all four of her siblings. She worked at The Red Sails Inn (now Ketch), which is eerily close (as in three blocks away) to my current apartment, and lived off Garnet Ave in Pacific Beach.

Her life here is a mystery to me. She's not one to share tooo much about her undoubtedly wild and intoxicatingly batshit crazy time that was her 20's, but I know she was a blast. In another world - where I'm not her daughter and instead was born in the early 60's and happened to live in San Diego in the 80's - we would have been great friends.

C'est la vie.

After a few years, La La Land (Maggie's self-proclaimed title for The West Coast) grew old as she grew up. She returned back to Real Life (my nickname for The East Coast), finished up school at Pace University, met my dad in Connecticut, and created a life for herself in Boston. Time took up space between her two lives, and the great San Diego stint became just that. Mom - did it ever cross your mind that your eerily similar daughter would one day brush the dust off your trail and retrace your tracks?

Lucky for my life trajectory, her siblings never left, resulting in pivotal family vacations to San Diego scattered throughout the years.

December 2015 Kippy and Ken took us to La Jolla Cove, a tourist destination that my 15 year old self decided will be my future neighborhood. A tour around University of San Diego was all it took for past me to decide where I would be going to college; she would have been shocked I chose a college in the middle of snowy Upstate New York. Regardless, the Universe distinctly heard these profound proclamations and stored them in my subconscious for future reference...

...like in December 2023 when I had a strong, instinctual urge to visit Kippy, Ken, and Jimmy for Christmas. This trip occurred amidst the peak of my post-grad flounder: no full time job, no idea who, where, or what I wanted to be. The world was my oyster, but what was my pearl?

From December to April I endured a tedious San Diego job hunt which resulted in rejection after rejection. No need to dwell on the negatives here, but I was quite exasperated, to the point where I signed a lease without any idea of how I'd pay rent. If you don't believe in a greater force (I'm referencing you, Dad), then maybe the next sentence could just be deemed as impeccable timing. A day after my roommates and I got the apartment, Ken told me his brother's company happened to be hiring. I accepted the job within a week.

There's something to be said about this quick turnaround; I spent a total of seven months applying to jobs all over the country, but no avail. Suddenly I had an apartment and a job within a day? Life is crazy.

A few weeks before my move, I took the cathartic liberty to have a very sentimental moment with myself and read old journals. Flipping through the pages I wrote at 19, I came across "Goals for my 20's":

1. Live in California

Twist my arm.

My Dad and I left Boston on May 4th, and after a 10 day roadtrip we ended up in Point Loma, where I was happily greeted by my two roommates. And their precious dogs, too.

I didn't look back. I couldn't. My mind was too full of how great my life would be here that there wasn't room for anything to go wrong. This (somewhat) tumultous and (drastically) life changing past few months have taught me that everything always works out, and (sorry Dad) The Universe has a plan. You simply have to trust in yourself and the energy around you to skip the shallow end and jump in headfirst.

https://open.spotify.com/track/4ZoBC5MhSEzuknIgAkBaoT?si=b4084fd4ff1e464d