Now, now don’t get the wrong idea. Moving is just as difficult (if not more) for the clergy and clergy’s family than the congregation. I say “if not more” because the congregation only has to say good by to, in our case, just the two of us– my wife and myself. Us, on the other hand, have to say goodbye to the entire church and the community that we lived in for the past 2.5 years. I’m actually going to really miss the Starbucks staff here at Valencia.

So, it’s a given that we’re going to miss people, places and things here in Valencia. But to make the move a bit easier for me, I started making a list of things that I wouldn’t really miss.

For starters, I’m not going to miss the summer weather of 2012 here in Valencia. We had a really warm winter and I know that the summer here is going to be crazy hot. There have been days that seemed to give us a mild preview of what summer will be like. I’m glad that I get to spend the summer in the nice, cool beach weather of Santa Barbara.

The other thing, hands down, I won’t miss is the apartment life. It wasn’t all that bad… but you know, neighbors make or break apartment life. We didn’t have bad neighbors upstairs, but they were really loud. Never intentionally. They had a dog the size of a sedan. And we could hear him running around the apartment. They would vacuum nearly everyday, I assume because of the dog hair, at odd hours of the day. We’d find dog hair all over our patio area and in my wife’s herbs and tomatoes. We won’t have to deal with the neighbor’s TV being on so loud that we couldn’t hear ours. Again, I’m just assuming it was loud because their hearing wasn’t what it used to be, and that they weren’t being jerks.

I won’t miss all the parking that we have to share, especially the humongous pick-up truck that would occasionally park right next to our car making it difficult to get in or out.

That’s pretty much it.

Yesterday was my second to the last Sunday here at the church. It’s getting more and more real that we’re moving.

People have been asking if I’m excited about moving. And yea, we’re both extremely excited. But, it’s a huge bag of mixed emotions. I can’t speak for my wife, but for me, I know I’m really excited. I’m also sad to be leaving this community behind. I’m also very anxious and nervous. Worried, is a given. So, it’s easier to not really think about it, when I don’t have to.

Thankfully, the next few weeks are going to be intense and hectic. I won’t have too much time to be consumed in my thoughts.