The moving truck out front of our house was almost finished being loaded and that’s about when I realized things were getting serious. We were leaving our home in Huntington Beach, Southern California’s Surf City, the road ahead an open book, the road behind sweet memories.
It was the home where my wife Sandra and I built our lives, got out of bed every morning, stayed up all night with babies, fought for their future, laughed, cried, played, partied, and ultimately kissed our girls goodnight at the end of each day, tucking them in beneath the smiling moon.
But our youngest was off to the University of Washington, so we decided to adventure away from the empty nest too – to Winchester, Virginia, where my wife had a great work opportunity, and our commutes would go from hours to minutes.
Tucked away in the Shenandoah Valley, we were moving to the woods, over the Blue ridge Mountains far West of Washington DC near West Virginia and the surrounding Appalachian mountains. When I first visited Winchester, the surrounding rolling hills still seemed to echo thundering cannons, rifles cracking fire, and men shouting from the pits of a desperate fight. Surrounded by Civil War battlefields that were once soaked in blood, it was haunting, humbling, and a reminder of those who’ve sacrificed all, and the grit that is sometimes required to make it in this world.
Leaving all of our family and friends behind in California was the hardest part, and continues to be, but the world is a big place and getting to experience this little corner of it – its history, seasons, nature, people, and culture – has been a blessing and wonderful opportunity to add a magical chapter to our lives.
And even though I call it “the woods,” and say that we live out in the “Virginia countryside,” Costco is just up the road, and Home Depot, Pet Smart, Michael’s, and Books-a-Million are well within striking distance. I’m sure the tough folks that built and fought for this place would scoff at how soft we’ve become. But it seems like they’d also have to have some envy. And the fact that we can travel back to California in an afternoon would likely totally blow their minds.
