Putting 2008 -- and my Vox blog -- in the rearview mirror

I think that when I'm 90 -- and since my great-grandmothers lived to nearly a hundred, I'm betting I'll make it that long -- I'll look back on this year as one of the craziest years of my life.  2008 started with our whole lives up in the air, and it's ending with our feet back on some solid ground.

In January, we still thought we were probably relocating somewhere along the Main Line in Philly; by mid-January, we had decided that we loved our little NJ town and wanted to stay put.  So, since we were staying put, we adopted our beloved guinea pigs, Cinnamon and Oreo.  And then in February, the Guv's company decided to go ahead and open an office in Silicon Valley, and we started packing our bags.  We celebrated at some friends' Mardi Gras party with a whole lot of Goldschlager and an ice luge.  We had wanted to live in California at some point for a very long time; we were excited that our dream was becoming real.

Blessedly, our New Jersey home sold quickly; our house hunt on the Left Coast took much longer.  The real estate lessons I learned (and the bidding war in which we triumphed) shock me to this day.  The Guv says he loves our new house 29-30 days out of the month; on the 30th or 31st day, he writes the mortgage check.  And then there's the little matter of our red cottage in Vermont, from which I'm writing this post.  We wouldn't have bought this place had we known we were moving West; but, after two full summers and now two Christmases here, we can't imagine not spending some time in these Green Mountains each year.  Both California and Vermont are home now, and I feel that we're in perfect balance at long last.  In California, the Guv has a five-minute bike ride to work as opposed to his hour-long one from NJ to PA; in Vermont, the kids are healthy and happy with summer camps and summer friends (or, in the winter, an awesome ski school) -- some stability, in case California isn't our last stop (though we're fairly certain it is).  I get my mountain time; the Guv gets to be in the mix in Silicon Valley.   I get to spend the school year with my mommy blogger friends; the Guv gets some premium summer golf.  Everybody wins.

The greatest victors of the year, though, are Dash and Petunia.  Dash started 2008 with chronic ear infections and with absolutely zero weight gain over the year; he's ending 2008 with ear tubes, some significant progress in curbing his constant sickness, a better appetite, and six pounds more in weight to show for it.  He is happier, better behaved, hyper-athletic, and still All Boy.  As for Petunia, she "wows" us every day with her flexibility and kindness, above all else.  We expected the move West to be more traumatic for her than it was.  She eased into our new West Coast life like I ease into my favorite pair of jeans -- like it was a comfortable, familiar place in which to find herself.  She maintained contact with old friends while making a ton of new ones.  She has seized a lot of opportunities to serve her new community, especially the homeless population -- something we didn't have in our little NJ town and which she has found distressing but not scary.  I marvel at her fundamental goodness every day, no matter where in the world we are.

As for your humble scribe, I find myself in a better place psychologically than I've been in a long time.  I'm lucky that I don't really get depressed, but I wasn't exactly happy in New Jersey -- not because of the place (though it's not lost on me how much healthier the kids and I are since we left), but because we couldn't have the family life we wanted when Daddy's commute time exceeded two hours each day.  Now, the Guv is home for dinner most nights -- and if he's not, it's either because we've walked to his office to meet him for dinner or because he's having fun with some friends in the industry.  He has time for a few more beers now with no pressure to come home -- and, from my vantage point, that has made him a lot happier, too.  We're all ending the year more happy, more healthy, more fit (all that CA biking!) and more together -- and that's the best thing any of us could've resolved for 2008. 

To celebrate the end of a marvelous year, I'm launching my blog on Typepad -- still Rox and Roll, now at www.roxandroll.com instead of on Vox.  Typepad offers more features, like the ability to save posts in draft mode or to upload posts at a scheduled time; the all-at-once Vox posting doesn't allow me to delve into subject matter in a way that I'd like on the new blog... Visit me over there, and you'll soon see what I mean!  For now, you'll just find some posts called "Best of Rox on Vox" -- just my favorites from my seventeen months on Vox -- with more to come in the New Year.

May your health, happiness, and joy exceed even mine in 2009.  See you then, on the all new Rox and Roll!