So I’m sitting here in what used to be our office/guest room, about to fall asleep for the last time in our first house.  I know I don’t blog much, but its times like these that make me reflect and want to document my thoughts.  Warning, I’m not putting any thought into order or progression of thought, so this will read as if I’m rambling, because I am.

Almost six years ago, we bought our first house with significant help from my parents, and unfortunately nearly at the peak of the market.  I still remember how anxious Alex was to get moved in, as she was done sleeping in a cramped rented bedroom, even with the benefit of a Korean mother cooking for us all the time.  I remember my dad throwing random items into our rental truck that we didn’t discover until we arrived in Lakewood (“Where did this clock come from?”).  I remember grabbing the Green Couch from the Tebow house, and being thankful that we didn’t have to spend money to get a couch right away.  And I remember the road trip down to San Diego with Louie and Nicole in his mom’s red truck to pick up a 57” rear projection TV from a cousin of Chuck’s (FYI, I just gave the TV away to the packer who boxed up our worldly possessions). 

As I sit here, I have quite a few thoughts going thru my mind.  First off, I cannot believe how much stuff we have accumulated in 6 year’s time, and how all this stuff managed to fit into such a small house.  As I watched the guys pack up our stuff, I realized that there was a lot that we hadn’t touched in a very long time.  That leads me to my first realization that we need to do some serious thinning out of our belongings.  I have a bad habit of keeping things with the notion that “you never know when you might need it”.  I blame my dad for that one, as he is a huge pack rat.

I am thoroughly thankful that my job is paying for this move, and with it comes the full service movers.  It would have taken us a full week to box everything up; mostly because we would have stopped every 5 minutes to reminisce over something that we found in the closet or in a drawer.  Of course, it is very odd to have strangers handling everything that you own.  I’m sure they found some things very odd, but they were professional and kept their opinions to themselves.  I am concerned about how much time it will take us to get our house in order once everything arrives in Utah, but that’s something I can worry about next week.

As for the reason for the move itself, I received a call from my boss several months back which basically went like this:  “Bill, we’ve decided to eliminate your position and the one in Salt Lake City.  We’re going to roll them up into a single manager position, and would like you to apply for it.  It will require you to relocate to Salt Lake.  If you choose to stay in Long Beach, you’ll have to take a downgrade to supervisor.”  That was quite the call, and needless to say, gave me and Alex quite a bit to think about.  In the end, we decided that the career opportunity was worth the move, and Salt Lake City was a much better option that New York or Orlando would have been.  Tommy is still young enough where the move won’t be too disrupting.    This also gave Alex the excuse opportunity to become a stay at home mom, which she has been itching to do since Tommy came along. 

We’ve found a nice house in Sandy, UT (Sandy is loving it, I’m sure!) which is near schools, parks, shopping and all the conveniences of living in suburbia.  It has a nice yard that Tommy will enjoy running around in, and a south facing driveway, which I’m told is key for areas where they get snow.  Alex is looking forward to our first White Christmas and I’m looking forward to seeing how my car handles in the snow with summer performance tires (yes, I’ll be buying snow tires).  There are lots of great outdoors activities for the family, and I have quite a few work friends that will help us get acclimated.

One thing I’m really looking forward to is actually working in the same state where my family is again.  I’ve actually been working in SLC since April, typically spending Monday thru Thursday there, and returning home to work in LGB on Friday.  That would only give me the weekends to spend with the family, and it is seriously getting old.  One of the things that made things a tad easier was having the ability to video chat with Tommy and Alex most nights when I was gone.  It made me feel like I was still able to participate, even from 700 miles away.  And it is amazing how much Tommy has grown and changed in the past few months.  It is both heartwarming and heartbreaking when I hear that he sits by the door waiting for me to come home.  Of course, as soon as I do get home, all he wants to do is “drive” my car.  I see where his priorities are!  ;)

One last thought before I call it a night.  I am so grateful for the people in my life.  They have given me the ability to work on my career, and a reason to come home at night.  Everybody in our families has been so supportive and loving, but there are a certain few that make it all possible.

My mom has spent the beginning of her retirement working harder than ever to help raise Tommy.  She has travelled down to LGB from Newark on a weekly (or so) basis to care for Tommy while Alex and I were working.  The money we saved on daycare was secondary to the fact that we knew that Tommy was being looked after by somebody who loved him.  I know that at times it was emotionally difficult for Alex but we both agreed that it was the best situation we could manage.  I have to give credit to Alex for her ability to cope with a situation that is very much common in my culture, but very foreign for her.  But we are both so thankful to my mom for her willingness to help and the love that she gives Tommy daily.

Another person that has been wonderful is Jackie.  I don’t think she intended to be quite as involved with Tommy as she turned out to be (she had a front row seat for his birth), but it has been great for everybody.  Jackie is the best aunt that a kid could wish for and we are going to miss having her over every week for fried rice night. 

And finally, the mother of my child (baby momma), wife and best friend, Alex.  She has been supportive of me from the beginning, allowing me to do what was necessary to advance my career, and our life together.  I have spent countless nights away from her due to work.  First when she was still in school in SF while I worked in LGB.  Then when she did move down to SoCal, I was on the road for work constantly, sometimes for an entire week.  And lately, I’ve been gone every week for over 3 months.  She’s never been negative or discouraging about my work, which has allowed me to focus on advancing my career.  So now, I move on to my new role, with family in tow and I am excited about the opportunity and the adventures that await us. 

I can’t wait to have my family together again!

So we discovered the pictures and videos of the cross country road trip I was part of when we helped James, Kristen and Logan move back to CA.  I'll try to start doing some posts from that trip soon.  In the meantime, not too much excitement, with the exception of a good bit of visitors.  Alex has kept up with that on her blog, so no need for me to go into too much detail. 

Ah...the one visitor that we would like very much to get rid of is our Opossum (let's call it Sam from now on)...or should I say family of Opossums.  For those who don't know, we have had Sam in the attic over the past couple of years.  Normally, it is fairly quiet, and doesn't do much to bother us.  We've tried to figure out where it enters the attic, but we haven't been successful yet.  Well, a few nights ago, it sounded like the thing was trying to dig it's way thru our bedroom ceiling.  It actually woke me up, and I had to put ear plugs in to get back to sleep.  Something must be done!

I spoke to an exterminator that comes by our office a couple times a month, and he suggested I buy a live trap and try to capture my uninvited house guest ourselves.  He noted that the exterminators do the exact same thing, only they charge a lot more to do so.  So Alex and I found a "humane" trap at Lowes and I set it in the attic on Sunday.  I read on some websites that the opossums enjoy bacon and fruit, so I baited the trap with Spam (with bacon) and the core of an asian pear from our tree.  I woke up in the morning and excitedly checked the trap.  What I found was that the core was missing, and the Spam was untouched.  But no, the trap was not sprung. 

That right...I managed to feed Sam. 

Sam - 1
Bill - 0

I think my mistake was that I didn't set the bait far enough back in the cage, which allowed Sam to reach the food without ever stepping on the trigger plate.  So I reset the trap with a Fuji Apple core, all the way at the back of the cage this time.  Unfortunately, it's been 2 nights with no luck.  I'm now wondering if it was the Spam's smell that attracted Sam in the first place.  So tonight, I'll be setting a fresh core in the trap along with the Spam appitizer.  We'll see if that works.  Hopefully, I wake up in the morning and there is a defeated looking Opossum in my trap.