One Year Since Moving To California!!!

Its been a year since Colleen and I picked up our lives from New Jersey and moved to California. I should have been updating this blog over the past year but I haven't, things have been crazy yes, and a lot has happened, and sure I've prob got a lot to say... but lets just call this one for laziness.

Last I left you here we moved out to California looking for something more. Unemployed heads held high we began our fight to remain self sustaining here. After working at a temporary job for about 2 weeks or so at a sign shop, I finally got in at a place I had been talking to from Jersey. Although every place has its ups and downs I was able to get a decent job to pay the bills and make a little more then I was making in Jersey. The biggest thing for me was learning. I had been stuck doing the same stuff at my old job and just needed a challenge. (For those who don't know, I work in the graphics field as a production designer.) I have learned so much in the past year that I can't even put it into words. So many good talented people that I work with have taught me way more then I ever learned at school. Just the education alone was worth it.

Side rant. I can't tell you how many times at my previous employer I was made to feel that I was lucky to be working. That there was nothing special about my work that separated me from others. It was important for me to be able to move on to another company on my own merits and prove to myself that even in a shitty economy I could find work in a state that isn't know for having a surplus budget. I have a job not because I'm lucky but because I'm skilled at what I do.  One of the things that enticed me about Southern California was that I saw a lot of competition in my field and I knew that I would have a good shot here.







Anyway, I got a job and its paying bills. When we first moved here we moved to a city called La Habra. Not because there was something there that drew us in or because of it's excellent location, but more because it was difficult to find a place from the other side of the country that I knew would be in a decent neighborhood and would be affordable for two people with no job. Long story short we outgrew La Habra and before long we where looking to move out of our tiny little 500 sq ft apartment and find something a little more permanent. Not to mention that we only have 1 car now because I had to sell mine to help with moving expenses and blah, blah, blah. We finally settled on Long Beach, CA. Now don't get me wrong like any city there are some bad parts just like good parts The area we settled in is literally across the street form the beach and is a wonderful area that is within waling distance from anything you could need. It is easy to get a haircut or buy groceries without ever getting into a car. We can ride bikes on the beach or take a boat trip to Catalina. We can see the legendary Queen Mary ship from our sidewalk. Needless to say we really like this area, it's got a lot to offer and there are a lot of people our age in the area.

Once we moved to Long Beach all of our efforts moved to finding Colleen some work. Now up until now we had been able to get by on just my salary alone but in this day and age if you want a little comfort you need to have that second income. so After 3,000 miles and 12 months We are both now working and a mere week away from having an income comparable to what we had in Jersey and bills that are close to half of what they where (at least rent compared to our mortgage). It seems we are nearing a position that we can really start to enjoy life a bit and some of the many things sunny southern California has to offer.





Now before I let this blog lay, I know that It may not be clear why I left. Why I just uprooted myself. This is a tough question. There are so many reasons for both Colleen and I. Only speaking for myself, What I can say is that it was a combination of things. Perhaps feeling a little alone, losing friends close to me, not being satisfied professionally, loosing in the housing market, but perhaps most of all I needed to show myself... show myself that I had the guts to go out and start over in a new place without the comfort of my friends and family being so close, which is what I've grown so used to being able to lean on. Show myself that I could start over and be happy doing what I loved to do.

I leave you with some pics of where I live.

This is across the street from our place:

This is a shot from the Queen Mary of our City:

This is a shot of the Ink n Iron Festival that takes place in Long Beach from the Queen Mary:

On The Move!

We are on the road and following our dreams and it seems so surreal. Over the past week I would drive down Hooper and realize this is my last trip down here. I won't be stopping at that Dunkin Donuts anymore where the guy always has my coffee ready for me. There are so many emotions it's hard to pinpoint them all. Even packing up the house was surreal, you look at all these rooms and think "What could have we done differently to make this work?" I really don't think we could have done anything differently. It was a dream crusher. I think sometimes that from the moment we walked through the door the odds were against us.  The day after we moved in my Aunt Kathy lost her battle with cancer. A few months after that Lenny's younger cousin passed away suddenly. A month after that Lenny's job implemented a company freeze on all salary increases and did massive lay offs. Yes Lenny made it though multiple rounds of lay offs. Yes I was able to recover with a new job that I was extremely thankful for. With out that job I would not have learned some new and wonderful things not only about myself but about The Rathgebers as well. I know that this all seems like normal flow of life to have highs and lows. But during all this time and even to this very day Lenny and I were struggling with something deeply personal that we tried to keep mostly to ourselves. After our first Christmas in our new house we had decided to move on to the next step...kids.

I had thought really long and hard about even mentioning that part. By now a handful of people know. But it can still be very difficult to talk about. So we started trying to expand our family and month and month...nothing. Months turned into years and now here we are 3 years later and nothing. Yes we saw doctors and had procedures and testing done. The answers to all our questions were just more questions. We fall into that percentage of couples who have unexplained infertility. So lump in those big fat negative tests in with everything else and there were moments when the world seemed like it was ending. And I was always looking for those little miracles, especially when Vinnie passed away. I had never wanted that plus sign more then I did at that moment.

But it took all of those things to happen to push us to where we needed to be. So maybe the house wasn't a dream crusher after all but just a stepping stone to open our eyes and follow our hearts and dreams.

So here we are moving our life across the country and following our hearts. I just want to thank so many people for all their well wishes. We have been surprised and touched by this outpouring of luck and love that has been headed our way. Thank you all so much. It is really late now. I will follow up with another post tomorrow.