Take Me Back to Manhattan

We talk about moving back east on a weekly basis now. There would have been a time when having that conversation would have given me anxiety because I would have wanted it to happen so badly that it hurt - and the mere idea of having to stay in Los Angeles would have left me breaking out in hives. But in the past couple of years, I have grown to love LA. I still understand the whole NY mentality that the seasons give you character. But to be honest, when I was trudging through slush and the wind was blowing in my face, my character was not much more than bitchy. I love the weather in LA. Constant sun, no humidity, temps that rarely go below 60...it makes a girl happy, plain and simply. And you really can't knock happiness. Perhaps my unplanned vacation from the entertainment industry has left me happier as well since it's left me time as a mommy to meet a whole other group of people in LA. I have great friends here. I still miss my friends in NYC - there are days and moments where I long to just make a call and share a bottle of wine with one of them. But I do have great friends in LA now too. I'm happy here.

Except that we live 5000 miles away from our families. I missed our parents before - but seeing them with Evvy makes everything different. She ADORES them and they her. It's a love affair the way a grandparent/grandchild should have and for her to only have that on special occasions is absolutely heartbreaking to us. Never mind the practicality factor of having an extra set of hands or two every so often - or knowing that you can go away for a weekend because your parents will hop in the car and come take care of your kid. While we are aware that there are pluses to living far away from family at times, we have trouble sympathizing when friends complain about the 30 minutes schlep across LA to go see their families. Plus, throw in the fact that it's not so easy to get a 17 month old toddler to sit still for a 5 hour plane ride (and that's only if there aren't delays) and the fact that we're about to have ANOTHER child and all of a sudden, we're not coming back east anymore.

I wonder if my love for LA will continue without the biting sarcasm of the New York City streets to break things up now and then.

But work is here right now. And so right now, this is where we'll be. And while the sun might shine most of the time in LA, on the days our parents leave town, it doesn't matter how bright the sun is shining - it's colder than any slushy, windy east coast day.