That evening we had dinner at the home of Jeff’s new employer and his wife. We would spend the next two days driving from town to town in hopes that we would find some place that we could call home.
We set out Saturday morning with maps, the plan was to start at the south end of the county and head north. We would stop for coffee along the way.
“How do we get to your new office?” I asked Jeff.
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know? Haven’t you gone there every day for the last week?”
“Yes, but I haven’t been paying attention.”
Clearly Jeff would be driving and I would be following the map. That’s how it works in our relationship. He drives and I try to figure out where we are.
The first community had no appeal at all. Actually it enhanced our anxiety. We may not have known where we would end up but it was very clear that we knew where we did not belong. I had spent time online looking at housing. We had a vague idea of pricing and I was doing my best to recall any houses I had seen in these communities.
Downtown San Luis Obispo is wonderful. There is a river walk and plenty of shopping and great food. There were people and activity. We love living in the city for that very reason, there are always people around.
We found ourselves on the north end of our journey much faster than anticipated. These communities were close together, thirty miles from end to end. Thirty miles and no traffic. We were not moving from the city to the suburbs, we were moving from the city to the country. It just so happens that this country has mountains and an ocean.
We were back at the hotel early afternoon. I went for a walk on the beach and Jeff found a laundromat to wash his clothes. There was a lot of silence that afternoon. We were both finding it very difficult to express what we were feeling.