Goodbye Indiana. Hellllllllo California!

Posted By Hup | January 3, 2009

It seems like months ago when Stephanie and I were getting ready to head back here to Indiana for the holidays, but the time has finally come to when we have to pack up all of our stuff and head on back to *real* home out west in Palo Alto, California. It has been an awesome trip for both of us and we literally packed as much stuff as possible into the nearly 2 weeks that we were here.

As I sit here and type Stephanie is getting cleaned up so that we can grab some pre-flight lunch with our parents before we hop on the flight back home. I have had a great time while I’ve been home and the time off has been the first time that I’ve been able to fully relax for multiple days in over a year, which has been very refreshing. When you’re on 24/7 it’s kinda nice to have some time to completely unplug (besides my Blackberry, of course) and let your mind rest before getting back to the daily grind that I somehow love so much. Personally, I’m ready to head back home to get after it - it’s going to be a great year in 2009. But, Stephanie is feeling more sad than happy right now when she starts thinking about leaving her family and other friends that she has gotten used to being around the past couple of weeks. It’s easy to get back into your old groove while being home and it’s never easy leaving it once you’re home for more than a few days. I know that Stephanie’s mom is going to miss having her around the house, too. Yep, there will definitely be some tears shed as we get dropped off for our flight here in a few hours - it’s how women roll.

Of course, I’m going to miss a some things once I leave, too. A few of these include:

Stephanie’s dog, Butch. He has been my homie and sleeping partner since I’ve been home.
My family. It’s funny how I get older I begin to appreciate my family more and more. I am very, very lucky to have the loving and supportive family that I’ve somehow ended up with.
Familiar people and being well-known around Indy. Back here in Indy I literally know about everyone within the city limits and things just seem so familiar when I’m home. But, I’m starting to meet more and more people out in the bay area so it’s just a matter of time until I feel the same way out there, too.
Rest. Even though I’ve ran around like 90% of the time while here in Indiana, I’ve been lucky enough to grab some much needed rest while being home for the holidays. Rest is few and far between out in California, but that’s how I like it most of the time.
Sunsets and beautiful skies. California has the great weather, but Indiana has some of the most beautiful sunsets and skies that I’ve ever seen. It’s funny how I’ve never really noticed until now.
Hoosier Hospitality. If you compare Indianapolis to San Francisco there’s no comparing the amount of basic friendliness that is found in Indy compared to the bay area. People in Indiana are super nice and love chatting it up where many people in SF rock out their iPods and just keep to themselves. I blame this on the big city mentality, not so much the people themselves.

Also, really quick here are some things that I won’t miss after leaving Indiana:

The freezing weather. It’s cold here in Indiana - like real cold. I’m way over it.
Driving a lot. I have driven more in the past 10 days than I have in the past 9 months. Driving sucks and I forgot how much of it I did while living in Indiana.
Not living with Stephanie. I’ve been at my parents and Stephanie’s been at hers this whole time and although we stayed at the same house some nights we still weren’t living together. It’s amazing how complicated it can be to coordinate holiday festivities from 2 different houses and with 2 different cars. I’m ready to go back to hangin’ at the cottage and walking most of the time.
Random workouts. It’s been hard to get good workouts in over the holidays and with all of the food that I’ve been putting down I’m sure that I need ‘em more than ever. It will be nice to get back into my workout groove once back in California.

Well, it’s time for me to get cleaned up so that we can get to lunch and to our flight here in a few hours. I still have much, much more to catch you all up on, but that’s going to have to wait until I touch ground on the west coast. Here’s to an awesome vacation, some amazing family and friends and an amazing 2009.

Filed Under random thoughts, travel