Sad plus Inspection

I'm feeling sad about so much today. My good friend Sheri was just diagnosed with liver cancer. It's one of the bad ones, very hard to recover from. She is so young and healthy and vibrant. Also Paul's dad is in the hospital fighting a staph infection. He is another very strong person, full of vitality. This mortal coil seems extra fragile this winter.

Lots of people are calling and emailing me, trying to set up one more playdate or get together with us. The calendar is getting full quickly. Meanwhile I have so many things I need to research and get ready. It's OVERWHELMING!

We had the house inspection yesterday. The inspector was amazingly thorough. After a couple of hours he pronounced the house in good basic shape, except for the old plumbing. We knew that would be the only issue.

We hung out with the Burns' family (the ones buying the house) and their realtor Pat for a couple of hours at the house while the inspector worked. Kind of weird but not unpleasant. We like the family very much. If there wasn't so much riding on the moment it would have been really fun hanging out with them. Connor played so nicely with their little 18 month old son Indio.

Soon we'll see how they want to respond.

Sister Kate

There are many people I'm going to miss terribly when we leave and one of them is my sister Kate. She came over yesterday to help me pack. She always makes the extra effort to stay connected and be supportive. Soon she'll be the only Murphy sib left on the west coast :-(

She came here just before New Year's eve, 12 years ago, when I lived in Silverlake. Can't believe it was that long ago. She was just a pup out of college. She lived in what would later become Connor's room, but he was only a gleam in my eye at that point. She worked for me at Artemis Designs for a while and always maintained her calm and sense of humor despite my frequent stressing out about slow drying paint and obnoxious customers.

She is very sad about us leaving too, but she said that she and her new husband Dan were considering a move to New York. That would be awesome!

BTW - Kate and I packed 24 boxes of books from the living room and then ran out of boxes. There are another 6 boxes worth left on the shelves, not counting Connor's room and the upstairs book shelves. Damn, we have a lot of books. I bought 100 more "bankers' box" type boxes yesterday. They should arrive on Wednesday.

Welcome

I decided to start this blog to stay connected to friends and family through this very big change we're making. Also to procrastinate a little more and avoid starting to pack!

People want to know why we are leaving our home city of 20+ years to start over in a little town in the (gulp) south. Isn't it over run with rednecks and Bush lovers there?

Well, there are rednecks there. Plenty of them here too though, along with gang bangers, 24/7 traffic jams and smog.

We are ready to live in a smaller, greener, cleaner, quieter place. We are hoping that the low cost of living and the (relatively) cheap real estate will enable us to have more time and energy for the things we love - art, family, nature. We also hope to create a more sustainable life there, leaving a smaller footprint on the earth.

Asheville is not a podunk place. There is a thriving arts community and loads of eco-hipsters like us, including my darling brother and his family (who are the coolest people I know). The politics are progressive - they defeated a new coal burning plant last year.

Of course "Wicked" and "King Lear" with Ian McKellan is not playing in their local theater. There are far fewer museums and galleries. I will miss that. Instead there are trees and rivers and people that don't lock their doors. It's a trade off and after much soul searching, we're making the trade.

peace,
Jennifer