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May
28
After a couple of the most exhausting days I can remember, we are in Eugene, unpacked and settling in. More to come, but I thought I’d share a few of the photos I’ve snapped via phone:
My favorite things so far:
• Being able to visit family whenever we want (look at my nephew, baby Charlie! He’s getting so big!)
• The ridiculously vast expanse of the rental’s backyard
• The giant windows everywhere
• The charming street we’re on, and the nearly incomprehensible quiet of the neighborhood (we see maybe one car every hour or so)
• Eugene! It’s awesome!
• Lying in bed at night and hearing the wistful sound of far-off trains
• The fact that my boys are communicating with the neighbor kids via notes taped to a ball that’s thrown back and forth over a fence
I am so happy to be here, you guys.
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76 Responses to “Arrived”
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It looks like paradise!
Congratulations on a new chapter
Congratulations! So happy that you are in the place that you and your family want to be. Good stuff.
Love the notes on the ball!
Why am I tearing up over your pictures? I think that one with your hubby and son getting into the moving truck is a classic picture. And I also love the ball the with the notes. Glad to see you’re safe and happy!
Congratulations! I’m so happy for you!!
Love the notes on the ball! The new place looks awesome. Congratulations – you did it!
Notes on a ball is maybe the cutest thing I’ve ever seem. I don’t remember beingso creative when I was a kid…
I am so psyched for you guys. Your new place looks beautiful. What an exciting chapter in your lives.
omigosh, the ball with the notes is so far beyond awesome that there is no word for it.
Have I mentioned how completely besottedly happy I am for you guys to be living this dream?
OK since Kristen admitted it first I’ll just go ahead and say that this post made me get all lump-throated and teary.
What the first commenter said reminded me of the first time I saw Eugene. I had run away from an abusive husband (not my son’s father) and hopped on the first bus going out of town. I knew we were going north but I did not know where we would stop. Maybe Canada. We rode all day and night from Southern California and when daylight came we were in Oregon. When we reached Eugene, one of the boys said, “This is paradise.” So I told my sons “OK, so then this is where our trip ends.” We stayed in Eugene for the next 20 years. They boys had a great childhood and got a great education.
Again, Linda, I wish the very best for you and your men. Eugene can be a magical place.
Those pictures are definitely worth a thousand MILLION words. Even though I love where I live (most of the year), I have to say that Oregon always tugs at my heart when I go there.
Your new neighborhood looks awesome and I love the ball notes. How sweet that they’re already making friends.
I’m so happy that the move is done! Enjoy meeting new people and exploring the neighborhood and town. Plus it’s great living near family (most of the time!)
Hurray! Welcome to Eugene! (From the once Oregonian now Clevelander). LOVE the red-ball notes. If you go to the 6th Street Grill (across the street feom the Hult Center) and have lunch in the bar in the next couple weeks my mom is Angie, the day bartender.
That is so great. I’m so happy for you guys. And I love the notes on the ball.
CON. GRATS. I love Eugene, and I love love love Ashland. The boys are so lucky to be growing up there!
Look up long’s butcher shop, they have the best meat, its a humane butcher shop, and OMG their stuff is the best. Also, very good prices.
So happy for you, Linda. Being near family is amazing, even if they make you want to pull your hair out from time to time. What an incredible gift it is for your children to be able to grow up with their cousins.
And I LOVE your new house!! If it had more storage, I’d say put in an offer to buy the thing!
I’m so happy for you that I’m kind of tearing up. I LOVE that your family is making a dream come true. Fantastic!!
Congratulations! I am, as so many are, thrilled for you!
The Riley is kind comment made me teary. But holy moly how awesome is it to be you right now! So excited for you guys on this new adventure.
Noteball, too cute! I’ve moved more times than I can count and it always sucked; so glad to hear a happy move story. Looking forward to hearing about your new adventures in Eugene!
You made it! So happy for you and your family…
Feeling your joy all the way up here in Canada! So excited that you guys have made the move!
YAY!! It looks magical. So happy for you.
That all looks and sounds glorious. I’m so happy to hear that it feels right!
Looks beautiful!
OMG that house looks like paradise. I’m thrilled and teary for you and your boys. I hope the magic of his move never leaves you.
Congrats!! The notes on the ball is beyond amazing…a perfect welcome to your boys!
It seriously looks perfect, how do you score these houses with amazing windows?! I’am so happy you’re happy! The ball/note thing uh-dorable!
Congrats!
Big big congrats. Huge.
I can not even tell you how happy you being happy makes me. Awesome
Awesome. :)
I couldn’t like this more :)
Congrats on going for your dream and making it happen! That house is gorgeous!
Why did this make me all teary too? Craziness.
Love the place though, 69 degrees! I love that! And green! And neighbors with notes! That is the most awesome thing ever!
You are now in my neck of the woods, I’d like to bring you a cup of Dutch Brothers Coffee sometime:) You are going to love Eugene:)
Congratulations! I hope you guys get settled quickly (even if it’s just in the rental). LOVE the communication via ball-thrown-over-the-fence. Smart kids.
Welcome to Oregon! So happy for you! Now you can look forward to five years from now, when you’re most of the way unpacked.
omg, as someone who’s about to put an offer on her own (tiny, expensive version of) dream home, this totally brings tears to my eyes. I am so happy for you!
Thank you so much for this post Linda. We are in the final stages of moving to another country, with boy and cat. I have just had the most horrendous sleepless night, brought on by stress and the fact that my brain won’t shut the hell up. I totally needed that, a very happy we’re already there post. I am so happy for you, a dream come true!
I have no idea why I’m tearing up at this. So, so happy for you! Congratulations :)
That NoteBall is just … gah! Cutest thing ever.
Big, hearty congrats to you, Linda! It must be great having family near you, and that yard looks like a kid’s paradise. This post just reeks of happiness, and deservedly so. Yay, you!
P.S. That pic of the I-5 bridge gave me flashbacks of crossing it every day for work. Oy.
I love Mrs. DePaulo! What a beautiful thing to do for Riley. Best wishes to you all!
Oh, *Sundry.* Huge, huge, HUGE congrats. Here’s to dreams coming true!!
SO happy for you all! Congratulations!
Sweet – so happy for you!!
I would like to leave a, “Go, you!” kind of happy comment, but I am DEAD from the sweetness of the pictures. The goodbye book from school! The cousin who is so obviously related to your darling boys! THE NOTES ON A BALL!
So, SO happy for you guys.
Oh Linda, I am so happy for you guys! So great to see your dreams coming true. What a wonderful life you are giving the boys (and yourself!). Very, very happy for you, woman!
Welcome to your new life. So happy for all of you! Thanks for bringing us with you on this journey!
Congrats! This gives me hope…our plan is to be in a similar situation next summer (in our case, fleeing NJ for somewhere down South).
I love this. And like Juliette, it also gives me hope.
Oh, Linda, yay!!! Congratulations, and have fun house hunting.
We just snagged a buyer for our house (pending inspection, anyway), so I am figuratively following you a few months later.
Congrats on the move. House looks cool.
I saw your twitter request for a dustbuster. I have a rec but I”m not on twitter. I am deeply in love with my electrolux ergorapido (like 99 at Target), which is a rechargeable electric broom (sits on a charging base) with a detachable handheld dustbuster. It is the best of both worlds, and is the only thing keeping my toddler’s cheerios from taking over my kitchen floor.
Gorgeous. I love your dining room. I hope you all get a riding mower for that backyard.
That ball is magnificent.
I don’t know if it fits the bill, but Oreck makes a little handheld vac that I could wax poetic about. We have four dogs, 10 cats and a lot of family and that thing hasn’t missed a hair or crumb in over TWELVE years and is still working like a boss. You can also get attachments for cleaning in tiny spaces, like stereo components and crevices in the car. It’s a only a little pricier than your average handheld, and for a machine that will probably see your boys through college, it’s worth it.
OK, this is amazing. Very happy for you. LOVING the notes taped to the ball!
Welcome to town! And the clouds are finally going away. You got here just in time for a sunny week!
Yay yay yay! This is the stuff real dreams are made of!
The goodbye book from school keeps making me cry every time see it.
Congratulations, so so happy for you! I hope it just keeps getting better and better for you!
So happy for you guys! Yard is awesome, ball even cooler, good-bye book so sweet and fabulous – all the nice things they said about Riley!! And baby Charlie…no words.
BTW…have you seen that the zombie invasion has started in Florida? Just saying…as soon as I saw that story I thought of you!
Hooray for you guys!!!! I am so happy YOU are happy! Congratulations !
YAY! So happy for you guys. Thank you so much Linda for sharing so much of your life with us!
ALL of that is your backyard? Geez, it’s more like a little boy corral!
These pictures are amazing….congrats on making it through this move! My daughter is six, and I can’t imagine wanting her peers to say anything more than that she is kind and helps when they are hurt…those notes are a testament to a wonderful kid, with amazing parents. Hoping you guys continue to get settled in quickly and easily!
Yay! You made it- you guys found a way to live the life you were dreaming of! Good for you – Enjoy it all!
JudithNYC, what a great story.
Happy for you guys. Hopefully we’ll get down to see you and even meet little Charlie soon. Congrats :)
So happy for you guys. You made it!!
You did it!!!!!
I wish it was socially acceptable for adults to make friends via note-ball. So sweet and appealing to the socially anxious. I’m also deeply in love with your amazing backyard. You could run laps out there. Congrats on the move!
The ball with the notes sounds like a story! I love it. Glad you’re settling in so happily.
Congratulations!
Yay! So, so happy for you and your family!
Note: be glad those trains are far off. I lived next to a freight train line (500 meters away from a crossing) for 3 years, and it was nightmarish. They sound quite sweet from a ways off, though!
Anyway – YAY! You give me so much hope for my own changey future. :)
First of all I want to say wonderful blog! I had a quick question in which I’d like to ask if you don’t
mind. I was curious to know how you center yourself and clear your mind prior
to writing. I have had difficulty clearing my mind in getting my thoughts out.
I truly do take pleasure in writing but it just seems like the first
10 to 15 minutes tend to be wasted simply just trying to figure out how to begin.
Any suggestions or tips? Kudos!