Goodbye, O.C.

It’s been approximately 10 months since Peter and I moved in together to our apartment in Orange County. It has been a lightning fast year with so many memories already created. There are so many things we love about living in Orange County, including the unit itself. For one, we finally found a couples therapist fitted to our wants and needs. Being located in OC also offered us easy access to amazing food, my family, and wonderful friends. However, these perks were not without pitfalls. The biggest drawback was the commute to and from work for myself.

We’ve jokingly talked about moving for the last few months as we scanned the housing and rental markets on Redfin and Zillow. For us, it wasn’t a serious consideration until I started working in-person 4 days of the week, an increase from the contractual 3 days required of me. Much of this was based on my decision to become more involved with various clinics and working within subspecialty care. This resulted in substantially less time at home. It was a lengthy 36 minute drive to work without traffic, and an even lengthier 60 minute drive home from work.

One might expect that the consideration for moving would sprout from my desire to cut back on commute time. Rather, it was Peter who really brought the issue to light. For me, I was willing to endure the drive because it was time to catch up on audiobooks and podcasts. I didn’t realize what a toll it would play on Peter until he expressed just how much he missed me throughout the week. Whereas I was previously working alongside him 2 days out of the workweek, I was now only available for 1. The other 4 days I’d be leaving early in the morning to avoid the very traffic that would ensnare me for the afternoons.

Peter missing my presence, even if just for parallel play at home, is enough reason for us to consider moving again so soon. We thought we’d stay in our unit in Orange County for at least a few years as we planned out the next phase of our lives. Uprooting and moving so soon is not exactly the stability I yearn for. Furthermore, this process started all over again the annoying search for 3 seemingly impossible criteria: hardwood flooring, in-unit washer and dryer, and without wasteful amenities (for which we’d be forced to pay a premium).

Almost serendipitously, however, Jackie brought to our attention that a unit would be opening up soon in San Gabriel Valley. Imagine that: we had just talked about seriously moving, and a unit avails itself in the week following. This was the beginning of April, and the unit was already looking for occupancy by the end of April. This set in motion an incredibly stressful two few weeks as we toured the location, ironed out the logistics of leaving our current apartment, and figured out last minute moving plans. We like to think that Jackie was scouting on our behalf with the ulterior motive of getting us closer to her.

This unit had all the cardinal elements we were looking for, though definitely has its downgrades as well. The most apparent is the spacing of the unit and dramatically lowers ceilings compared to our current apartment in Orange County. This makes for a space that seems very much smaller, which has forced us to make some logistical compromises. The silver lining, however, is that the apartment owners very graciously remodeled the unit and installed new appliances just before our move-in.

A big pro of this new unit is that it includes two guaranteed parking spots in addition to a storage unit. It’s also located in a very safe and walkable neighborhood, conveniently located near stores, restaurants, and a gym. It’s also a 15-20 minute commute for me to and from work, and always against traffic. The proximity of the gym is nice and needed because we had to give up our home gym due to the space being more cramped. At least this means more access to a variety of equipment! We even found some friends who may be able to join us on our 5:00 AM work outs to boot.

One of the biggest hesitations about moving was being further away from my parents, such that we’d have to carve out intentional time to head down to Orange County. While living in OC, it was easy to build in time to see Peter’s parents in SGV. We found a work-around thanks to both of our flexible work schedules. I’d be working half-days on Tuesdays, so we can see both our couples therapist and my parents during a weekly mid-day trek down from SGV. This seemed like a very good compromise. I’m glad that we can be closer to Peter’s parents in SGV as he becomes increasingly involved in helping them with daily affairs. We also get to stick with our wonderful therapist.

As of this blog’s publication, we’ve newly relocated to SGV from OC. The last week or two has been jam packed with moving which was definitely stressful. We decided to move much of our belongings manually rather than utilizing a moving company. Of course, we hired people to move the very heavy objects as our geriatric backs can’t afford any injury. The process itself was a trying one in many ways, but it allowed us to work on our communication skills, especially as time and energy were at all-time lows.

Truthfully, I am a little sad to be leaving our apartment in OC. I’ve come to cherish a lot of the moments we had there, and was just starting to feel ‘at home.’ Peter, on the other hand, could live anywhere with his two bags of clothes and work desk. But, I am glad we are moving however bittersweet it may be. We look forward to new adventures at our new place. It’ll be an opportunity to strengthen local friendships and explore different places. We’ll still be sure to visit OC frequently for our beloved friends—a mere 36 minute drive away.