Why Do We Live Here?

Originally, My Beloved moved here because it was close to his daughters - he wanted to make sure that they had no more than a 15 minute drive to visit him. Even though he and their mother were splitting up, he wanted to keep close and loving contact with his girls. When I came into his life, it was a natural for us to establish our household here where he had already settled and was happy.

It's not ideal - in a lifetime of moving, I have learned that no place is truly ideal. We have a huge refinery at our back door and traffic on the freeway is often heavy. We are a relatively affluent island in a large city of people struggling to realize the American Dream; it is sometimes sobering to live here. 

On the other hand, over the years, we have had lots of reasons to continue to live here. For one thing, it's cheaper than other places in the bay area. For another, it's a fun little community where neighbors know each other and business is conducted locally. In our tiny, three-block triangle, there are three churches, a playhouse, two antique stores (one Asian, one Western), two hairdressers, a day spa, a pharmacy, a yoga studio, a florist, two groceries, three art galleries, a library, a post office, a fire house, a community center, a huge natatorium, a dog park, thirteen restaurants and assorted other businesses.

The local playhouse sponsors a town-wide garage sale each Memorial Day weekend. We have a weekly farmer's market and monthly music concerts in the street during the summer. Hallowe'en is the old fashioned kind where kids can go trick-or-treating by themselves after a certain age. We have the Turkey Shoot at Thanksgiving (we parade a pet turkey around town, then have a shot of Wild Turkey whisky at a local bar) and a neighborhood Christmas party every year on Christmas day.  We even go caroling. It's not Currier and Ives, but it does have some traditional aspects that are somewhat unusual in California.

And, every now and then, we look out from our windows and see sights such as this, the north tower of the iconic bridge with the fog behind it tinted pink and lavender by the sun setting in a bright golden sky. A compelling reason to live here.