Recap w/ LOTS of links

So... we are officially no longer new to Pittsburgh, at least I don't think so. We've now lived here for a full two years. The second year was a LOT different then the first year a few reasons why:

• The biggest change is we moved into the city vs. being in a suburb. This was the biggest and best thing that changed. I felt like our lives in Pittsburgh really began with this move, since we were actually living in a city neighborhood: close to our friends, our favorite places to shop, having better commutes, easier bus access.... it gave all of us an opportunity to more readily explore Pittsburgh as a whole.
  
• We were both employed steadily by the same employer during the second year. Which was nice; we like routine and this certainly provided some.
  
• The kid and I took up yoga - which is amazing, and does wonders for our physical and mental well beings.
• Socialized more (especially the kid, I feel like we barely see her on the weekends anymore)
• We had more people visit us then the year before, but folks are welcome to break that record again this year.
  

One big thing for me was that I was able to do some traveling, which made me very happy. Although I am becoming a bit of a homebody, I do love to get up and go sometimes. So it was nice to be able to take some quick trips on this side of the Mississippi: My mom came down and we drove east to visit her friend in the quaint town of Bethlehem, PA (which also meant I was able to experience the QuakerTown Flea Market). I took a sketchy bus and met up with a Seattle friend in NY for two very full days of site seeing. Then this spring I took the train to Chicago for a short, but fun weekend to visit a friend from Pittsburgh who was up there. As far as big trips go I was also able to head west (although sadly not the NW), thanks to my job, and visit Colorado, where I grew up, and San Diego .

Since I couldn't imagine what this past year would be like, when I was thinking about our first year in Western PA... I won't try and imagine what our third year will be like. I am pretty sure though that life is going to be good, and I still won't be regretting our move.

moving right along...

I started this blog to capture my experience of moving back to my husband's homeland... but I could have been writing about moves my whole life. On average I've moved every 18 months of my 37 years of life! Most of which were just cross town moves, but there was a quick succession of out of state moves: CO - OR - CA - WA - ME - an 11 month stop over back in CO - and then back to WA for 14 years until we packed up our lives and begin the journey documented here.

I spend a lot of time talking about moving here when I meet new people... how one ends up in Pittsburgh is always an ice breaker conversation... other then those who never left, there are those who are boomerang Pittsburghers, those who came here for school and never left, those who came for a job, or a spouse... Pittsburgh isn't exactly a destination you just decide to move to and start a new life, although it should be.

But this post is not actually about all my moving - it's about other people and their moving. Because we've now been here long enough that we know people who lived here before us and are moving on; and we've met people who have recently moved to the city after us.

I will say that I can appreciate how my friends and coworkers in Seattle may have felt when I was preparing to move far far away. There really is only one person I was particularly close to in Seattle who moved away while we lived there, and that was also VERY early on in our time there. It is surreal to me that I have lived here long enough to get close enough to people and be sad that they are leaving. Although I will probably be able to see some of them in a few months (they will only be a MegaBus ride away); others are making a transcontinental move and I just don't know when I will be able to see them.

Then there are the people who have just moved here from away. Watching them transition and remembering what it felt like when I first got here I feel some sense of responsibility to share information about good grocery stores, mass transit, fun events. I am pleased that I actually have information to pass along... it reinforces that I am truly home here. It is also nice to be reminded how far I've come since first arriving in Western PA. I don't think I could have imagined then how grounded and happy I would be 2 years from when we first arrived.