I feel like I’m home again.
I grew up in Tucson, AZ, and went to school for my engineering degree in Phoenix, AZ. After graduation, I was recruited by Hughes Aircraft Co. in El Segundo, CA. I worked for them from 1987 until the end of 2008 when I took early retirement. I had planned to take off 4-6 months but that was right when the 2009 recession kicked in so I was actually off for closer to 10 months.
In September I went to work for ThinKom Solutions Inc. in Torrance, CA and worked at their facility until last month. Well, I’m still working for them but I had a chance to move back to Arizona so I took it.
In May, Betty and I came to the AZ area and started looking for a house to buy. We went out with our realtor on Sunday, May 23rd, and saw a house we fell in love with. We put in a bid thinking it was unlikely we would win as it was a beautiful house that was selling with all the furnishings and a lot more and there were a lot of people looking at it. My favorite feature was the huge granite island in the kitchen. I’ve always wanted a big island like that.
The next day we went to Los Algodones, MX so Betty could get some implants in her mouth and at 5 pm my realtor called and asked if we wanted a house with a beautiful kitchen. We had won the bid, against 33 other people. I think it was a case of a jerk from California swooping in and stealing another one. Well, I hope I’m not too much of a jerk but being as I had bought a house in CA in 2000 and how much appreciation they have gone through in the last few years I was able to make an offer that most in Arizona probably wouldn’t make.
We moved here on July 1st and it took about a week before I felt it was actually mine. I still haven’t made it OURS yet but we will over the next few months. I used one of the PODS from 1-800-Packrat.com and it arrived on the 19th. Daryl came and helped the next day and Heather’s BFF sent her kids over to help too so now all I have to do is unpack all the boxes in the 2 extra bedrooms. I’ve had a few offers to help from family but we’ll see if that pans out. I suspect it will.
We’ve been here for a little over 3 weeks and Betty is loving it. She keeps saying how pretty it is and how people are so much nicer. That’s a fact. You don’t really realize how unfriendly people are in CA until you walk into a bunch of stores and all the clerks and other people are so nice. We are finding Drs. for her various issues and have hope one of them will finally solve her Vertigo problem.
I’m working remotely (just like I did during the Pandemic). I’m still hoping the company sells sometime in the next couple of years and I’ll be able to completely quit.