The Best Thing About Bakersfield...

Leaving.


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I'll post an epilogue of sorts sometime next week with news, if any, of future plans.

Eric

The Countdown Begins...

My last Monday in Bakersfield.

Just writing that brings a smile to my face.

And I do mean LAST. I will never set foot on this side of the Tehachapis again. Evah.

If at some point in the future I need to travel north, I'll fly. Won't even pass through this neck of the woods again. I'm afraid the smell will bring on PTSD.

Doing Time

We finally have our parole date, the day our exile in Hooterville mercifully comes to an end...

March 10.

We'd move sooner, but it's just logistically impossible. Such a shame.

We moved to Bakersfield on September 12, 2009, the day after the 8th anniversary of 9/11. From one unimaginable tragedy to another. For those first few months I used to keep track of the days, like an inmate, but after 100 it just became too depressing to contemplate. Every once and awhile morbid curiosity would get the better of me and I'd tally up the days of our unplanned stay. The last time I checked we had just crossed the 800 mark.

Now that we have an exit date I figured I'd add the days and see just how long we will have been stuck here by the time we see Bako in the rearview mirror for the last time. And the final number will be...

911.

Make of that what you will, but it's kinda creepy.

House Hunters

The past week has been overwhelming, between an unexpected avalanche of work, trips to LA and the recently wrapped reconstruction of the house. It's been unbelievably stressful. Good stress, but stress none the less. I woke up early this morning when I thought I might be having a heart attack. Instead, I think it was just the questionable fried chicken I ate last night. Without the boyfriend's McGyver-like skills in the kitchen, I've been left to my own devices and on more than one occasion I've chosen poorly.

Speaking of the boyfriend, he's been a busy bee as well. For a week now he's been looking for a new place to live, on his lunch hours and after work. And earlier this week it appeared as though he had found our new home. He sent me a link to the listing with a ton of photos and he took a bunch more with his phone and emailed them to me. The plan was for me to drive down with the dogs this weekend and give my blessing once I'd seen it in person. But unexpectedly yesterday I was approached about several TV projects and after a crazy quick trip to LA, I now have too much work over the weekend to leave. But still, I thought it best to get a second opinion on the new house. The boyfriend tends to have issues with spatial relationships which becomes a problem with as much crap as we have. So, since I wasn't able to check out the new apartment, I did the next best thing... I sent my mother.

And why not? She is, after all where I get my innate design sense and good taste. If it didn't pass muster with here it probably wouldn't with me either. And the good news is, after a showing last night, she gave it her stamp of approval. She hates the carpet, but other than that, we're good to go.

The plan now it to rent it as of March 1st and move probably mid-March. The Bako house should go up for sale next week, priced to move. Our feeling is the house shows better with furniture in it, especially once the boyfriend gives it his magical staging touch, so if we have to stay a couple of weeks longer than we'd like, if it helps get a better offer, it's the cost of doing business.

So overall, everything seems to be going swimmingly. Which scares me a little. I keep looking over my shoulder waiting for the other shoe to drop.

It's Bakersfield... you know there just has to be another shoe.

The Empty Nest

I've had some whirlwind weeks in my life but it's safe to say this one takes the cake.

Last Thursday we were still searching for path out of the dead end of our lives in Bakersfield and today, not quite one week later, the path isn't just clear but the journey has already begun... today was the boyfriend's first day on the new job. The early reviews are in and it's a night and day improvement. He loves it.

He had hoped to take some time off before beginning the new gig, primarily because he hasn't taken a day off in over a year but also because to say there's a lot to do here is an understatement. But they needed him today and he wasn't about to question it. Yesterday he spent the day packing some things and by 5 he was gone. He'll be staying with my folks during the week and coming back here on the weekends.

The bizarre thing, to me, is that it was almost exactly a year to the day that we found ourselves in exactly the opposite situation. I found myself leaving unexpectedly to look after my folks after my mother's heart surgery and it was the boyfriend who was left marooned alone in Bako for a month.

We've known all along that this would have to be this way for the immediate future, but that certainly doesn't make it any easier. He hasn't even been gone a full day and I miss him desperately. If I thought I was living a lonely existence before, now I'm really going to be put to the test. He was my only human contact.

At least I have the dogs. That's some comfort.

Lights. Tunnels. Action!

I need everyone to think good thoughts this afternoon...