Why We Left California

After living in California for ten months, we've decided to move to Colorado.

This move is different than a lot of my other moves.

This time around, it's for a change of scenery. 

As opposed to relocating for a new work position or for school, 

this one is happening due to an intuitive pull.

Do you ever get those intuitive pulls? 

(My AmeriCorps co-leader always called it “The Pull”.) 

When you can't explain exactly why, and it doesn't make sense to others, 

but you just know it's the right time to do this one thing? 

That's what this is.

Waves crashing at Morro Bay, CA 2018

Of course, it boils down to three main reasons (and a bunch of little bonus reasons).

But first, story time.

For months, Kyle and I had known Pismo wasn't going to be our Forever Place. 

I had originally moved there for a theatre job in November 2017.

The Great American Melodrama & Vaudeville in Oceano, California

But when I left that position the following April, I was kind of left in a limbo, of sorts. 

I was actively looking for any kind of survival work that could deem me qualified.

We thought about L.A. For a long while. 

We visited twice in preparation to move, right around the end of my theatre contract. 

I even had a well-paying day job lined up that I was commuting and training for 

while finishing my job at the theatre.

We went down on my days off, we conversed with our AirBNB hosts about the best neighborhoods, and we actively viewed potential apartments. Along with doing some fun touristy things.

In front of the Hollywood Sign after a hike, 2018

Unfortunately, my official end date up in the central coast couldn't line up with the ideal start date the L.A. job needed me for after training would end, and it all fell through.

So, they paid me for two weekends of training, and we stayed in Pismo.

Kyle at Pismo Beach, 2017

Floating between more survival applications and still lazily browsing Playbill for theatre jobs, 

I was stagnant.

One day, the universe gave me an opportunity that I couldn't turn down. 

I went on three interviews with different companies, 

only one of which I was sure to be qualified for 

(a vegan restaurant – the other two were for a bank teller and an office assistant).

At the end of the day, I had received offers for all three.

HOWEVER.

I had also received an email that showed up out of the blue. It stated that I was being considered for a role in a show at a theatre in Illinois. I had forgotten that I submitted – because that's what you're supposed to do, if you want to get used to rejection in theatre – and they'd actually gotten back to me.

Before I replied to any of these interview offers, I bantered with this theatre for a day or so. Once they got back to me, the decision was made in my favor: that I was offered the role in a children's show in Illinois, thirty miles from my hometown. 

This was on my bucket list of places to work - and I'd finally gotten an offer!

Now, the question was: do I take a role at a dream theatre, disappear from the west coast for six weeks, get paid to work near my family... or do I turn it down, take a practical offering of abundant positions that I had just been offered, and buckle down out west?

I took the theatre job.

Knuffle Bunny at Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, 2018

How is this relevant to leaving California or moving to Colorado?

Here's the grit:

The down side to California is that the job market is extremely niche or extremely underpaid. 

When I left the only niche I went there for, I suddenly lost all qualification for bangin' income in any other industry. But I refused to get paid minimum wage to serve the retired and/or tourist community of Pismo Beach at the local knock-off “Broadway Bagel” shop. (You'll never hold a candle to New York, baby!)

And as for L.A.?

Well... Something in me just, shifted. I had long thought about making the big leap into pursuing film/theatre in Los Angeles among my fellow college grads that had transplanted from NYC. Kyle had also dreamed about finding work as a resident studio musician.

But we weren't ready.

By that, I mean, I wasn't ready to invest A.) financially, or B.) theatrically, at the high level that I would need to in order to get ahead in L.A. So, I tapped out, and I'm glad I did. Truth be told, I'm currently burned out after four years of constant theatre work... and I need a move that's just for my soul right now. If something comes along that I'm right for, then that'll be great, and I'll probably take it. But the energy reserve needs to fill back up in the mean time. You have to know when to say when, and you have to know your limits.

On the bright side:

Being closer to family in Illinois and Iowa has a large effect on this decision and is reason number one for me to move inland a little further. I have two parents who are thankfully still around, two sisters with their families, and a niece and two nephews (ages five, three, and three). 

It sure would be nicer to be a little nearer to these little faces, don't you think?!

My nephew Wayne, niece Kendra, co-worker Cydney, myself, and nephew Aaron

Denver also happens to be the hub of the country for domestic travel. To phrase my first solo in college: “I came on two buses and a train... can you imagine that? Two buses, and a train!” 

Leaving the central coast of California for a trip or (God-forbid) in a state of emergency would involve: two shuttles, two flights, and two more shuttles. Not exactly my cup of tea when traveling half-way across the country in a panicked mode.

Reason number two in moving to the Rockies is that we have friends there.

When you move around as much as I do, it can get pretty lonely. You have a plethora of contacts across the country, sure! But when it comes down to it, you don't get to see familiar faces when you're flying around so frequently. You're simply moving too fast; It's basic physics.

My first California sunset that I shared with... myself.

What's reason number three? 

The apocalypse. 

I'll be far enough inland and high enough elevated that I'll be safe from The Big One, 

when and if it arrives.

On top of Loveland Pass, Colorado 2017

Just kidding.

(Still potentially valid, though!)

The third reason is definitely the culture. 

“Oh, 'HIP' culture! You must be moving there because of all the vegan food, and the music scene, and the breweries, and the distilleries, you friggin' hipster!”

Sharing a drink with A.J. Stone at a Midwestern craft brewery

You're not wrong.

However, I give you my word that my flannel shirts will not be worn in irony.

I promise to actively participate in your communities, Colorado.

And I hope you can teach me some tricks of the trades, such as winter sports, re-learning intense hikes at elevation, and possibly investing in your housing market, when the times comes.

Colorado is somehow both ahead of the times and behind the times in all of the best ways. 

It mixes rustic living with city vibes, which is perfect, in my eyes. I can't wait to be closer to family, friends, and all the things I enjoy in a more accessible (and somehow simultaneously remote) area.

Here's to the next adventure.