Seven Year Itch

I recently did my annual car registration here in Texas. This time, however, they also sent me a new set of plates. Apparently you need new plates every seven years. That’s when I realized that come mid September, I’ve lived in the same place for the last seven years.

Growing up, I spent 16 years in my hometown. However, that was spread out over 4 homes.  My last three years of high school were spend in Texas and Missouri. The longest period I’ve ever lived in a single house was seven years followed by six in Gainesville for school. Soon I’ll have been here longer.

When we first moved here, it was just because of my wife’s job. It was a starter job that might last a few years. But its still going pretty well for her (most of the time). We never thought we’d be here this long when we moved.

What really gets me though is that it doesn’t feel like seven years.  That seems like such a long time. The last place I lived this long seemed liked FOREVER. Granted, we moved there when I was 5 and out just before hitting being a teenager. Essentially the entire period I have memory of being a kid.

We’ve thought about moving a few times. Either to someplace completely different or just to a new house. In some ways it would be nice to try something new. The weather, while familiar as its similar to where I grew up in Florida, isn’t great. I kind of have an interest in living in the south west region, like New Mexico/Nevada. Or the Pacific Northwest.

We always come back to the fact that we kind of like it here. Despite it being in Texas. But the GOP idiocy is no worse here than anywhere. At least some of Texas stubbornness keeps even some of that in check.

The house is just a bit to small (again, despite being in Texas where everything is supposed to be bigger) but other than that it’s great. We’ve put a lot of upgrades into it, money we’ll never get back. But this makes it perfectly suited to our needs. More importantly, we have a good group of friends here who are big geeks just like us. And while we still have a few years, the schools are supposed to be pretty decent.

So here’s to seven years in Texas!