For the past week or so, I have been scouring my brain for the best post to celebrate the one year anniversary of our move here to this State. It’s odd that I can’t seem to find the words about one of the biggest decisions we have made in our lives.

So, I decided to just stick to the basics.

We still live in the same apartment. We just renewed the lease actually. I am not saying that this place is perfect, I do think that we still need a bigger place. This place still doesn’t have enough storage space or counter space. 1 year in and we still have 3 boxes of books unpacked. I still want an actual workspace. I love doing work on the dining table but an actual work table would be great. But regardless of the apartment’s shortcomings, I love coming home to this little place. This is our place. All the things in here scream us. From the bookshelves. To the shoes. To the soaps. Down to the clutter. It’s all ours.

I finally left the corporation that I was working for. Ten years and I finally got the courage to leave. And honestly, if we didn’t move, I wouldn’t have left. But, here I am now working for a young company. And I love it. It’s sort of a start-up lab and I really enjoy being part of the team to establish the company here in the US. Oh, and I am now walking among the living. Traded my overnight job of a 9 to 5 grind. Finally.

I finally ditched my car. Well not really. I still have my car but I chose to take the bus to work now. Well, I guess I can drive to work if I wanted to, I can be at work in about 30 minutes. But it only takes me 40 minutes to get to work by bus. The 10-minute difference is not that bad. Can’t complain at all. I don’t have to deal with traffic myself. I just sit on the bus. And then I don’t have to deal with looking for parking. I work downtown so parking can be very interesting. So the bus is definitely an advantage.

Since I moved, I finally get to read more. I know, I could’ve made the time to read in San Diego. But since I am taking the bus now to and from work, I am able to read more. I tend to not read at home. House chores. Doggie cuddles. Netflix or Crunchyroll. Being at home can be distracting to my reading. So the commute definitely gave me the much-needed reading time. I am still not reading as much as I want but I can’t really complain when I’m already on book 26 for this year.

So do I think this move was a success?

I think so. San Diego was great but I always felt out of place. Regardless of the fact that my friends and my family are far away, and I do miss them dearly, but this city felt like home from the very first time I visited. I personally don’t regret the move.