I am not originally from Southern California. I would probably be incredibly insulted if someone assumed I was. I grew up in the lovely, green, and maritime yet mountainous Pacific Northwest. People were always moving there from California. We natives hated it. They would sell their houses in California for huge sums and then buy houses in our area for more than we thought they should, driving up real estate values and thus property taxes. Traffic worsened considerably. Surburban sprawl got out of control. Now, I understand that these were common problems experienced by many urban areas in the eighties and early nineties, but where I come from, all the blame was put onto Californians. The entire metropolitan area seemed to unanimously elect the state of California as our scapegoat.
And yet here I am. I was pondering today, and I think I've unintentionally become one of THEM. It was your typical perfect Southern California day. D and I each went through not one but two bathing suits and towels apiece today. One for her morning swim lesson and one for our afternoon visit to the local playground/water spray park combo. We had mexican food for lunch with everyone who came to playgroup today at a local park. I drove around in the perfect summer sun with the top down on my car. We wear flip flops year round. I think $700,000 for a house is reasonable. We rarely use either the furnace or the air conditioner. My PhD diploma (from a public California university) is signed by "the Governator."
What happened to me? Unless we move soon, my kid(s?!) are going to grow up thinking this is normal. How very strange. It's odd how you can end up living an entirely different life than the one you always thought you'd have.
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Pregnancy news: I came out of the closet to my playgroup. These women comprise the majority of my social life since we moved here. They know about our issues, so they were thrilled. One of them brought a neighbor I'd never met and her 2 children to the group, and after introducing me, added excitedly "and she's pregnant!!" The neighbor glanced down at the 40 pounds of bedrest pregnancy weight I'm still carrying from D and said brightly, "Yes, I can tell!"
Ouch.
3 comments:
I'm a little bit behind checking up on you:
1st: CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR GRADUATION!! I hope my scan tomorrow is as successful as yours.
2nd: Thanks for the shout-out on your snarkiness post.
3rd: No Brains... your comment was witty and funny and timed perfectly. I'm only spot on when I'm in an especially cranky mood. Under other circumstances I'm not quick at all with come backs and witty remarks. I suppose we all have our moments.
Yay! I'm so glad for you that you're out of the closet! Wonderful. And grrrr to the comment about you looking preggo. About three months after my miscarriage (last year) a lady at church walked up to me, patted my tummy and said "Ooooh I see you're getting nice and round now!" Needless to say, it wasn't fun for me - or her - when I informed her I had miscarried. She hastily scuttled away muttering something to herself... hahah! Funny in retrospect though. She hasn't commented on my weight again since! haha!
Belated congrats on graduating from the RE! Also, I have a post up about advice for surviving bedrest, would love to get your input. I hope for your sake that you don't end up needing any of that advice this time around for your TOTALLY UNCOMPLICATED no bedrest full-term pregnancy!
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