I’ve had a hard time getting myself to actually write this blog post.  In fact, I can’t believe I’m about to type the very next sentence.

My wife, our two sons, and myself are moving away from the San Francisco Bay Area.

When I moved to San Francisco in 1999, it was a dream come true.  I’ve said many times over the past 12 years that there was no way I was leaving SF for another city in the United States.  I would now like to retract all of those statements.

 

So what’s happening?

We are relocating to Boston.  The movers are coming tomorrow to pack our house.  We already shipped one of our cars eastward. A few boxes have also been sent in advance.  We have plane tickets to Boston for Wednesday, April 13.  One way tickets.

Obviously, this has been in the planning for months.

And it’s been stressful.  Especially for the last month.  And it’s bittersweet.  San Francisco is an amazing city.  Living a few blocks from the beach in Half Moon Bay has been (for me) a dream come true.

For me, relocating east is a move back to New England, where I lived for the first 23 years of my life.  I’ll be moving closer to my Mom.  Immersed in Red Sox Nation.  Surrounded by many of my friends from my days at the University of Vermont.

For Keturah, it’s an opportunity to experiencing living in another state for the first time in her life.  In addition to going through all four seasons every year, she’ll be moving closer to her grandfather.

And for our kids, it’s a better educational system.  Apologies to people who grew up in California and to my friends raising kids here now, but simply put, the public schooling in California is not nearly as good as what can be found on the East Coast.

Regarding my position at NASA.  I’m keeping it.  It makes me extremely  happy to say that I work with a supportive team and people willing to let me continue performing the job that I love from afar, via a full time telecommute agreement.

Believe me.  It’s not easy leaving Northern California

There is so much that I love about living in Northern California.  I am nat moving a family of 4 all the way across the county ((It doesn’t get much more cross country than what we’re doing)) because San Francisco sucks.  It doesn’t.  San Francisco is my favorite city in the U.S. and I don’t imagine that changing anytime soon.  I am going to dearly miss things like wine tasting days in Sonoma, Tahoe skiing, staring out at the Pacific, mouth watering burritos, the ever energetic tech scene, bar hopping North Beach, and seeing bands plat at The Fillmore.  As well as the friends and family that we are leaving behind.

San Francisco is the place where I met my wife.  Keturah and I were married in Golden Gate Park.  Our children were born here and took their first steps in the house that we are now boxing up.  The area is not lacking in once-in-a-lifetime memories.

Thus, the obvious question is “why leave?”.  As mentioned above, the quality of the public school systems is probably the single biggest reason we are doing this.  But there’s more to it than that. Things which I’ll share over time.  In short, it feels like the time is right for us to experience something different.

Boston, here we come

To our Boston friends and family.  We’re excited.  Very excited.  Moving is extremely hard.  The past month is as stressed as I’ve been in a long time.  Our entire focus has been on packing and preparing.  There hasn’t been a ton of time to think about all the great things ahead as we venture into New England living.  No, we don’t have a house yet.  Working on it.  For the next few weeks, we’ll be staying with family in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

And there’s plenty to be excited about.  I know that I’m looking forward to baseball games at Fenway this summer.  And camping trips to Vermont.  And swimming in the ocean with my family.