Coffee, Chaos and Cuss Words

It appears I've made it to a milestone.... Happy 50th Birthday to me! I didn't think I'd be celebrating the way I am today... where I am today, when I turned 50. My life has taken so many unexpected twists and turns in the past few years that I didn't anticipate this is where I'd be. Living away from NJ...in So Cal...10 minutes from the beach. Wow.....how frikkin cool!!! A year ago, we finally finished with all the agonizing estate business after my parents deaths. I no longer had a relationship with my sibs so Sean and I asked ourselves, 'What are we waiting for?'. We wanted to move to a place where there was milder weather (NO snow!) and be nearer to the beach all year round. We both love Jersey, but couldn't endure another winter. One trip out to So Cal and I found us the little apartment in which we now reside in Oceanside, CA. Everything feels like it's happened so fast (but there was a LOT of work and planning involved)!!! I never dreamed THIS...

Four days ago...my husband and I packed up my little Chevy Sonic with our two cats and several bags of clothes and stuff and began a journey across country. We are making our way to Southern California, where we will begin a life near the Pacific Ocean. I think we considered the benefits of our geographical move, but underestimated the impact it would be having on us emotionally. Sean and I have been married for 5 years and together around 7....yet I think this may have been one of the biggest undertakings of our relationship. When we decided to move to the California coast to enjoy year round proximity to the ocean, we knew our life was going to be different....but I'm not sure we understood how many ways it would change. I know I've tried to anticipate all the ups and downs but even my controlling nature couldn't predict how it actually felt till we got on the road. We decided to drive cross country to minimize the impact on our cats, Vilma and Baby. It has still been tra...