Wow, I stumbled upon this blog after almost forgetting it's existence! My last post was in January 2016. I remember thinking it would be fun to follow the boys' daily adventures through this blog but life quickly presented many, many priorities that left blogging in the background.
We have since had an amazing adventure guiding and watching our boys achieve many great milestones in their lives. Tracy has blossomed into a snarky, engaging teenager who everyone loves and is finding his own identity. Andrew has grown into Andre the Giant, weighing in at 244 pounds and 5'11 at 14 years old and is in full-on teenager mode, though he's the same sweetheart of a kid he's always been, And Brandon, dear Brandon, continues to embrace his "cuteness" to try to get away with everything. The boys are smart, happy, and secure (mostly) and that's as much as we could hope for.
After 24 years in Sacramento (22 for JT) we decided to pick up stakes and return to my home state of Connecticut. As it happens, it was JT who pushed for the move to the east coast to be in the same time zone as most of his employees and make him more visible in the company he works for, headquartered in Windsor Locks CT. We looked at schools for the boys, property values, and conditions in California among many factors. Since COVID has made JT a permanent work from home employee, the condition I presented for a move to the east coast was to be close to my 88 year old Dad, since my Step-Mom had been in a nursing home for the last six months and he was languishing. The official move date for the family was June 1st 2022 with myself arriving in advance of the rest by a few weeks, and my Dad was convinced to move in with us a few weeks later.
The boys' response to the relocation was mixed since they are all Sacramento natives and mostly only remember our house as home. Friends were at stake and after some long heartfelt talks they hesitantly came on board, The move itself was a huge undertaking, much more work than I ever anticipated and 7 weeks later we seem to be hitting a rhythm. The boys have been troupers, with Tracy entertaining my Dad endlessly (which has been good for both of them), Andrew spends a lot of his time online communicating with his "not a girlfriend" back in California, and Brandon has become fast friends with two brothers around his age who live across the street. JT is basking in the increased corporate visibly with the home office, and I'm just flying by the seat of my pants.
We truly miss our friends in California, but we're also embracing our new adventures here in Connecticut! Life is change, and we're so in love with our home and the people we've met along the way that this couldn't be anything but the right move for us.
