04.28.09
Mid-to-west
In 2000, I visited San Francisco with my then-girlfriend. We had just arrived from Seattle, having made this a multi-way trip. Chicago – Seattle – San Francisco – Chicago. Seattle was nice, though I continue to feel the same way about the place as I did when Jen and I visited there two years ago — I like the place a lot and it has great food but it’s not the place for me (or us).
San Francisco however was a revelation of sorts. It seduced me and I became infatuated with the place — the hills, the air, the weather, the culture and the cosmopolitan aspect of it. A great city with some of those things I had hoped to discover, find and see in Chicago but hadn’t. My then-girlfriend and I joked about not getting on the plane and sending for our things. We of course returned home.
The thought however, never left me and over the next few years, the idea of one day living in San Francisco has always remained slowly simmering just beneath the surface of daily life in Chicago. I didn’t return however until October 2006 with Jen and it was then when I asked her to marry me, in the city we didn’t live in. It may have been a bit of a sign however.
The idea shortly popped into our heads — perhaps we should move to San Francisco.
This started a somewhat odd search for a new city to possibly live in. The following March, in 2007, I went to my first SXSW and my hidden agenda for it was also to see if Austin would be a suitable place for us to live in. Not so much. We traveled to Seattle that October, as Jen had never been and I wanted to see if my thoughts on Seattle had changed much. Unfortunately, they had not. There it was, San Francisco, bubbling again. This time, the bubbles were breaking on the surface.
I’ve lived in Chicago for 11 years and four months. There is a lot that I’ve done and accomplished in this city but more so, I have the sort of friends and life I’ve always wanted to have and most importantly, I found love.
It wasn’t always a decisive conscious decision but organic — the way I’ve lived my life thus far has been about natural progression and letting things happen. When the third decade of my life came around, for the first time ever, I made a conscious decision to make a 5-year plan. And so I did. It involves both personal and professional goals and step one involved moving out of Chicago. A change was needed.
In 2008, a lot happened. A year of great successes but also great roadblocks. Fortunately, roadblocks can be overcome and downs can turn to highs. 2008 was a transitional year if there ever was one. I won’t go into much detail but with happiness came sadness. The combination of the two ultimately prompted the need to turn our formerly waffling plans into concrete resolutions. And so our three-years-in-the-making plan to move to San Francisco became a reality at the end of 2008.
We’re approaching May 2009 and in the past few months I’ve taken five flights. Two of those were to San Francisco, the first time with Jen and the last without. It was this last time, after the relative failure of the first trip (and the things we learned) did I finally come away with what we were looking for: a place to live. It was the first place I looked at, on the first day I got in. I walked in and knew that this could and would be home.
In mid-May, we’ll be residents of San Francisco.
There’s likely plenty more to say. But for now, this will do.
