So long Stafford

The older I get the more I feel the old adage, “the days are long but the years are short” applies to the stage of life we’re in. Actually, it feels more like the days and years are short. Anyway, somehow four years flew by and it means it’s time to say so long to Stafford.

Although there are parts of Stafford life I am ready to leave behind (the lack of dining and grocery options within 20 minutes, mosquitos and the abundance of yard work just to name a few) there is certainly a much longer list of things I am sad to leave. Perhaps it is because the kids did so much growing up during the last four years, but Stafford was the first place that felt like “home” in awhile. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some SoCal and am thrilled to head to the left Coast, but we all became pretty comfortable calling Stafford home. The kids and I liked pulling into Target and without fail, running into at least one person we knew. The kids loved their school and the friends and teachers they met over the years. Sophia (and I) made such a great group of friends at her dance studio. We had a welcoming church community and preschool that I was lucky enough to work at the last two years. We loved our quiet little cul-de-sac of neighbors and the kids loved chatting with them when they were out biking (probably because they knew a lot of those neighbors handed out Gatorade or popsicles when you stopped to say hi). Not to mention Phil had a pretty awesome, once in a life time job the past four years that gave us some pretty wonderful experiences.

Alas, change is on the horizon and while that always means a few challenges I know it also means lots of new opportunities. The house sold, all of our things were packed and once school and recital were finished it was time to take off. We’ve yet to figure out how to make our PCS moves into true vacations, but maybe next time? We tried to seek out all the good eats we could find along the way (oddly enough the best coffee was in a strip mall in Amarillo, TX) but more or less we cannon balled it out to California before our quick turn to Minnesota for some family time. Stay tuned for lots of California adventures!