Congratulations on making the decision. I've never been to New York (although I have in-laws in Newark and in Pennsylvania) but it sounds like an exciting move. Scary, but exciting. I hope it all goes smoothly.

I'd wondered if your return home, to the space you've worked so hard to create, would flip you back around, until you cried "how can we leave this?" Sounds like the opposite, for now.

I have great admiration for your courage, and will do what I can to help w. the transition.....

Those are exciting, scary decisions! Good luck with this transition. It keeps life exciting, doesn't it?

And good luck to Dan. I've appreciated his work over the past two years, but I can see where it's time to do something new. I can't wait to see what this adventure holds for you next...

Welcome back east!
One suggestion-unless you are going to buy soon back east, I'd hold off on selling your house. Rent it out and take an equity loan for your moving expenses, but otherwise let your equity grow in the house you have, because I'm sure you saw that real estate is as insane back east as it is in CA!

I was in similar shoes just over a year ago. Back then it seemed like the worst time to move. But we gave up great jobs and a home we loved to live in a place we knew would be home forever. At the time someone said it takes a year to recover from a move. So give it a year and then see how you feel. I think you'll feel great!

Sob. Sobsobsobsobsobsobsobsobsobsobsob.

[Insert image of a tiny, crumpled-up coconut here, in a puddle of coconut milk.]

Sob. Sob. Sob.

The first half of my marriage was characterized by relatively frequent moves. But the moves were dictated by my husband's job in the missile industry. One year we moved four times. Although the last move that year was under 100 miles, four weeks later we moved from California to Louisiana. Our longest stay was in Florida for the moon launches, Skylab, and Apollo/Soyuz. We returned to Louisiana in 1976 and have been here ever since.

I learned really early how to find myself a "female community" in each new place. With his schedule any thoughts I might have had about a job were totally impractical with two kids.

You'll no doubt enjoy the move, once you are settled in somewhat. There will be so many new things to learn about and explore. (BTW--I grew up in northern NJ and worked in NYC two summers.)

Sob doesn't even touch it, Tiny Coconut.

I'm happy for you, Tamar but so despondant for those of us who will miss having you in person!

There's a flip-side to sobsobsobsob, and that's
Yay! yayyayyayyayyay! I hope that the Coconut and Michele do not infer any callousness on my part. I don't mean the yays that way. But I (and Hannah and Isaiah) sure are thrilled to have our dear friend close to us. It's been a long time. And I, the Californian, have been keeping these NYC-area home fires burning too long alone.
I stand with Chris: we'll help you make the transition. And it will all work out. We don't know how; it just will.