So, California, This is See You Later

So, California, this is see you later.

I didn’t actually find myself lucky enough to call you the state of my birth.

Nope.

That would be Idaho.

Yep, I’m actually a potato head. Just in case you were wondering.

And California, though I was fortunate enough to call you home for around 51 years of my life, I’m not so loyal a fan that I can’t change my allegiance to another state.

I met the love of my life in the great state of Arizona, so a piece of my heart will always feel a bit of love for it even if I don’t actually call it home.

You have been the place where my roots have grown deep though.

I went through school here.

I found God here and gave my life to Christ here.

I went to Summer camp here.

I had my first crush here.

I graduated from grade school here and college too…

I learned to drive here and I learned to surf here.

My discoveries of love and passion for writing and photography occurred here as well.

I picked up my first job here and I spent the majority of my working life here.

I found out what the word infertility means here…

And I found the joy of adoption here.

I experienced what it meant to be a husband here.

And, I stepped into the adventure of fatherhood here.

I have been blessed to find myself invited into innumerable and precious friendships here.

I have had to give friends back to the Lord here.

Dear California, you have blessed me with sunrises and sunsets that breathed joy into my soul.

You have shown me wonders uncountable that confirmed to me the handiwork of the God I love.

But California, you have also shown me pain and sorrow.

In your soil, you hold the memories of many of those that I have loved and had the privilege to know in my short life.

You gave me employment and you took it away.

You saw my accolades and my promotions, my trophies and my abused emotions.

You oversaw the days where truths were spoken, but you also stood silent when I was the recipient of others lies.

You gladly accepted the days of my service on your behalf and yet you jealously held back your best care when I like so many others needed to be supported.

You accepted the service of lesser men and in violation of what’s right stole from me (and others) more than your fair share of the fruits of my labor.

You have changed from a land of plenty to one that like some ancient vampire continues to drain the life from the very ones who have made you great in the first place.

So, California, I have mixed feelings for you.

Though I have much to be thankful for in having lived here so very long, I also have much that I will not miss.

Traffic… smog… crowds… ridiculous taxes… Socialists… Leaders that aspire to be dictators… Santa Ana winds… earthquakes… and expensive gasoline!

But, dear California, I will probably miss a lot more than I won’t…

I will miss your mild weather, your amazing sunrises and sunsets, your beaches and the waves that I so enjoyed riding, your mountains that were so near I could be in the ocean in the morning and the mountains in the afternoon, your incredible diversity and the cultures that I wouldn’t have known if you hadn’t introduced us, your love of the arts that assured that I’d come to love writing and photography, your overabundance of attractions that I could get to by car in a matter of minutes.

But above all California, you were the cradle that held much of my family. You are a place that houses so very many people that I care about.

As I leave this great state, I leave behind many that I love and care about.

But this is not goodbye forever, this is just a heartfelt “see you later!”

So, Dear California, I leave a piece of my heart here. I have roots planted deep that will not easily be transplanted elsewhere.

I will look back with fondness and I will certainly shed some tears as I start my journey to the new adventure that is Texas.

As the years flow by and the new adventure becomes the new normal.

As new friends and new experiences come, I pray that the lessons learned from days gone by in my fading memories of California, I will be filled with thankfulness for the times spent in the warm sunshine of the golden state.

See you again someday California…