The San Diego House in Fragments of Life

The house we lived in back up in San Francisco was on the beach, as I said before. For the most part it was a nice neighborhood but it started to decline the last few years we were there.

Now in our 60s, we’re settled in our San Diego home in an adult community that’s also on the coast but our place is actually next to a lake and not the beach.

We don’t travel as much as we used to now that we’re getting older, and many of our family members have passed on. I never had any siblings, so as an only child, I have no family left in Arizona to see.

Angela does go to Germany every few years and once or twice a year we drive up to NorCal where Michelle and Jamie have family and we all have friends and old co-workers.

We bought a three-bedroom manufactured home with a full bath off of the master bedroom and a three-quarter bath near the other two bedrooms which is on the other side of the living room. You walk in the front door and you have a huge living room and dining area. To the left you have the master suite and kitchen and to the right you have the other two bedrooms, bathroom and utility area. All the rooms are a pretty good size and now that we have so many gadgets compared to 20 years ago, we appreciate the space. It’s a beautiful modern home that was built a few years ago. Unexpected health issues arose for the couple that originally bought it and unfortunately for them, they didn’t get to enjoy the place long.

There is also a detached full-size garage with a huge storeroom running the length of it in back.

We did the same thing we did when we first moved into the San Francisco place and we got all new furniture.

We decided to take only what we absolutely needed and really wanted and had a shipping company drive it down to the new house.

Michelle sold her pickup and we all rode down in Angela’s SUV. Shortly after arriving here, Michelle got a small car, figuring it couldn’t hurt to have two vehicles since there are four of us.

We have more breathing space around us. Our San Francisco house was flanked by other houses and most of the time the neighbors were quiet. When the neighborhood started to decline there were often loud kids that would run screaming between the houses. Loud music, people up to no good on the beach, and a bunch of welfare bums slowly began to take over the area. It was kind of sad too because it was so beautiful for most of the time we live there. But the winters were a little too long and cold for our liking and we came down here for the warmer weather.

We discussed all kinds of possible places to retire but decided that Florida would be too humid, the desert would be too dry, and we definitely didn’t want to go anywhere that had snow. It’s expensive and a little too populated but it is otherwise gorgeous here. Fortunately we’re well off and we’re in a great location. Like I said, we’re not flanked so tightly by houses. One of the things that attracted us to this particular park, and we definitely scouted out several of them before choosing the one we wanted to be in and the house and then officially moving down, is that the houses are more scattered rather than closely together. We don’t want to hear anyone’s TVs and we certainly don’t want to disturb anyone with our own music and TV. This way we also feel like we have more privacy at the same time it’s nice to have met some very nice people around here and know that we’re not isolated and alone as much as we have always loved each other’s company. If we needed anything, our neighbors would be happy to help.

No one seems to have a problem with our sexuality, not that we care. We never lie or hold back either. We always introduce each other as our spouses and people can either take it or leave it.

We decided that the master bedroom would actually be a room Jamie and I would hang out in if we wanted to do things like listen to music, play on our laptops, color in our adult coloring books, etc.

Instead of having closets and a bathroom between our bedrooms, we now just have one wall. The other bedrooms are back to back and the way we’ve got the beds set up, I could literally reach back and touch Jamie’s pillow if I could put my hand through the wall. It’s kind of cool because it’s like we all sleep together even though we’re still separate couples in our own rooms. We’re never in there except to sleep, though, or if we want to chat privately with each other, and yes, sometimes we even manage to work in a little fun even at our ages.

The living room is for anybody any time to hang out in. We all eat our meals in the dining room which is right off of the kitchen. The kitchen has a little alcove in it with built-in benches and a table and that’s become Michelle and Angela’s little home office. You see, once a cop, always a cop. It’s in their blood. They may be retired but fellow officers both back up in San Francisco as well as locally, consult with them regularly. It helps fill their time and gives them more to do.

We have a totally gorgeous view of the lake and we still carry on the tradition of our special night. I’m not sure if I mentioned that but every Saturday night we have a little slumber party in the living room where we take all the couch cushions and we all crash together after a night of hoarding junk food, binge-watching crap on TV, and chatting about this and that.