Still Crazy After All These Years...
I often wonder what people in other parts of the country think about us Silicon Valley folks - do they think we are stupid or just insane to pay such astronomical prices for real estate, selfish or superficial to think we came here just for the weather or to say we live in California? Do they have the misguided assumption that we're all making a mint at high-tech companies? (Cost of living adjustment - yeah, right!) Are they jealous of our proximity to mountains and beaches? Or do they just keep coming back to this blog in complete bafflement that we have things here like pre-school waitlists from the fetal stage?
I can count the number of Bay Area natives I know on one hand. These people impress me because they understand how to live here frugally and they are infinitely patient with those of us who have immigrated from other states. But it's not all pleasant - the natives tell stories about giant orchards that are now corporate cubicleville sprawl, every year it becomes more prohibitively expensive to stay even if you've owned your home for a decade, gas prices are reaching new highs, and don't talk to me about property taxes.
So on the Silicon Valley Moms Blog's birthday, I've decided to impart a secret that only locals know about where the value truly lies in living here. Yes, we come for the weather and sure, we come seeking fortunes. Occasionally we come to get away from somewhere else. Silicon Valley has some unique qualities - the average parent in my community has a graduate degree. Around here, a Stanford education is the norm, not the exception. It takes under an hour to get to the beach, a tad longer to stand amongst towering redwood groves, and a few hours to graze the ski slopes. And let's not forget we can take weekend trips to Santa Monica, Cabo, and Hawaii. None of these are sole reasons for our pilgrimages here, but their sum total keeps us around. Still, that's not what keeps us here. There's this unwritten law that once you've lived in the Bay Area ten years, you're here to stay. There are exceptions, of course, but "Hotel California" rings true - "you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave." It grows on you, and once you're hooked, it's difficult to imagine life anywhere else. It's a special formula of San Francisco culture melded with international flair, open-mindedness combined with the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation, and an attitude that nothing is impossible.
Kennedy put our nation on a path to the moon. Silicon Valley blossomed out of this same thirst for new ideas. You think Google or eBay could've happened anywhere else? Every time I go back to where I grew-up in the midwest, I feel ill looking at real estate prices, I want to smuggle gasoline across the state line, and I think I must be dreaming when I see movie tickets for under $10. Every so often, my husband and I have the discussion - should we move back? Free grandparent babysitting, huge house and reasonable investment opportunities all tempt us. But then we come back here and while cursing 101 traffic to pickup our organic groceries before meeting our friends at some outdoor cafe with wireless access and sitting two tables away from venture capitalists, physicists, animal rights activists, green building experts, serial entrepreneurs, and multitasking blogger moms, we think to ourselves - we may be crazy, but we're home!
Happy Birthday Silicon Valley Moms Blog. Thanks for letting me know my insanity has company and for helping me feel more at home.
...Sarah Granger is still learning how to balance being a mom, a blogger, and a mommyblogger, along with everything else that encompasses Silicon Valley life.