Almost time

Well, it's roughly one week until I move for the 20th time in my life. Here's a simple breakdown of where I've lived (and in what order):

1- Green Lake, WA (Seattle): East Green Lake Dr.
2- Lynwood, WA (Seattle): 67th Ave. West
3- Coeur d'Alene, ID: E. E. Sunnyside Rd.
4- Coeur d'Alene, ID: N. 7th Street
5- Coeur d'Alene, ID: N. 6th Street
6- Junction City, OR: Prairie Rd.
7- Corvallis, OR: 25th Street
9- Corvallis, OR: 26th Street
10- Eugene, OR: High Street
11- Coeur d'Alene, ID: E. Sunnyside Rd.
12- Coeur d'Alene, ID: 13th Street
13-Coeur d'Alene, ID: Wedgewood Loop
14- Coeur d'Alene, ID: E. Sunnyside Rd.
15- Junction City, OR: Hattie Ave.
16- Eugene, OR: 17th Street
17- Eugene, OR: Broadway Ave
18: Eugene, OR: Austin Way
19: Coeur d'Alene, ID: Hattie Ave
20: Coeur d'Alene, ID: E. Sunnyside Rd.

And starting July 13th, my new home will be here:

21: Portland, OR: Barnes Rd.



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Whew! At first I thought I had only lived in about 10 separate houses, but I'm blown away at the fact that I've lived in 20 different places! (Well, 16 actual houses, since I moved into my Grandparent's place in Cd'A a few times...). And the weird thing is I can name the address for almost every one of those residences!

It's bittersweet, to say the least. Moving away from Coeur d'Alene, that is. I've always considered this my home; no matter where I lived at the time, I told people, "I live in (BLANK), but I'm from Coeur d'Alene," -- even though I was born and raised in Seattle until I was nine. Nevertheless, I expected to spend my entire life in North Idaho: get married, pump out some Jakelings and coach Coeur d'Alene Little League until I was 90.

That all changed a few years ago when I started dating the woman I knew I would marry from Day 1. Hell, we joked about getting married all the way back in high school, so you could say I expected good things when I started dating one of my best friends. Thus, for the past three years I knew my life-long dream of a Coeur d'Alene existence was in jeopardy -- especially when I moved to Eugene, OR, to be with her.

But, Holly actually surprised me when she moved to Cd'A with me. I knew it wouldn't last, but she did give it a solid eight months before headed back to hippy land (i.e. Oregon). And so, once more, I'm moving to Oregon to be with her. This time, though, I know there's no coming back.

And I have no problem with that.

You see, I finally realized that I can have the greatest life ever as long as she's with me, and Coeur d'Alene is a place we can still come visit. In fact, after moving to Oregon early July, I'll be returning to North Idaho at least 4-5 times before January. So a life in Portland (the biggest city in a state I've boisterously denounced for years) looks to be the greatest accomplishment of my life. I'll be starting a family with my best friend (wedding is sometime in early 2010, more details on that later) and I'm actually looking forward to living in a big city again.

So, while Coeur d'Alene will always be where I'm from, Portland looks to reign on top from here. And I've never been more excited about anything in my life.