So now Gavin's back in school (until we move, which looks like it's going to be in about a month), and the house is oddly quiet, almost eerily so, I can admit it: I love my kids. Adore my kids. I take a lot of joy and delight out of both of them and if I was forced to spend another week of staying home with them I'd be forced to eat them.


There.

Got that off my chest.


Somewhere, somehow, I've been working through the rewrite of the second half of the book and I'm around 15K from being done. This is close. And what's there suddenly seems coherent, reasonably solid, and most importantly, I still agree with most of what I said, even the bald lies.

Memoir contains a lot of fiction. I've come to that conclusion, finally, and now at the end have really embraced the idea. It's not about fabricating the past, or somehow misleading people in terms of what happened. It's about teasing a story out of events, making connections where there aren't any at first glance. Finding patterns and a plot out of stuff that's often, on the surface, pretty random.


Boston is a gorgeous town. Bec and I agreed it's like a weird hybrid of Berkeley and London, with weather along the lines of Bangkok.

I realize this changes in October, yes.

But we like it, and it's a good place to start our new adventure. Currently we're deciding between living in city somewhere like Jamaica Plain, or choosing a more suburban settling up the coast like Salem or Swampscott. Houses are, on average, about $100K less than houses here, which makes the difference for us between being able to afford one and not.


A lot of people have expressed dismay over our leaving, not just because they'll miss us (and we're really going to miss you too). I think most folks are used to living in one place for a long time, and the notion of just packing up and moving for no reason at all (although affording a house was high on our list) is a little odd.

But Bec and I moved, on average, once every two years for most of our young lives. In fact, most of our lives, period. We've lived in places like Accra, Apia, Iraklio. What's weird for us is living this long in one place. We were ready a while ago, fond of the area, fond of our friends, and enjoyed our life here, but this is a new page, a chance to do new things, meet new people, learn a new culture (and Boston for sure is one!), and enjoy a new place.


Plus... you have to taste the lobster. Really.


The new house will have a guest room, and we hope everyone will remember that JetBlue now flies direct to Boston, and you can watch South Park the WHOLE WAY.

And we already know where to find awesome Brazilian food.
- posted by Kate @ 12:14 PM