The Journey West

June 7, 2012

It begins. Yesterday we left our home in Cleveland Heights and took to the road and the promise of a new life in California. The golden promise of the golden state has also been in the shadows of my mind for forty years, and except for one brief period in 1998, it has always been a shadow and never real.

Surprisingly, I have mixed feelings about the move. We have made such a good life in Cleveland Heights, great friends, a strong family, a fine home… so unlike in 1998 when I was running away from Cleveland, this time, I’m not so much running from it as turning a page. It was hard to say goodbye to friends and family, and I will admit that I lingered a bit here and there to view some of those familiar sites one last time – to imprint them into my memory and reflect on their importance as they have shaped the man that I have become.

As we left, and as two of my daughters remained behind to join us later, reality became the metaphor. A part of our lives remained in Cleveland, as a part of our lives always will. So, we look back with love, with kind memories, and with a wistful smile on this place and turn our gaze to the setting sun and the new life that awaits us in San Francisco.