The top three 'happiest' cities in America are located in California, and we live in one of them, Irvine. And except for a 17-month period where we had been transferred to one of the three 'unhappiest' cities in America, we've lived in Irvine, California since 1980. All three of our sons went to school here and graduated from high school here, however, none of them currently live here. The oldest son lives in Katy, Texas (about 25-miles West of Houston). Our middle son lives near Portland, Oregon. And our youngest son lives in Lake, Michigan, a very small town, about 150-miles North of Detroit.

OCU

Then why is the byline listed as Miami?

OCU

The only problem with San Jose, is that the 101 passes through it.

OCU

How do you manage that? I'm worried this will happen to us. Kids spread out all over the place.

#4 | Posted by eberly at 2025-03-11 01:24 PM

Our youngest son and his wife comes and stays with us during the Winter months. This past winter, they arrived in late October and just left a few weeks ago. They both work for an IT company that helps corporations and organizations recover from malware and ransomware attacks. They can work from wherever there's a high-speed internet connection. Back in Michigan, they live out in the middle of the woods on 22 acres of woodland (they utilize a Starlink connection). They also have a cabin on a lake about 70-miles south of their home where they spend a week or so a month during the better weather times of the year, where they have a normal cable internet connection.

As for our other two sons, the oldest travels a lot for his company as he's the brand executive for a chain of high-end steak and seafood restaurants, several of which are located on the West coast (one only 10-miles from our house) so we see him several times a year. And up until about six-months ago, our middle son lived in LA, about 40-miles away, and he still comes down on a regular basis because his ex-wife has their 10-year old daughter.

And we make it a point to travel to either Michigan or Texas every other year or so. This year, we'll be visiting both states, later this spring for a family visit to Michigan (both my wife and I are from Michigan and still have family back there) and in November, it's off to Texas for granddaughter #2's wedding.

OCU

You can go from Hell to Paradise in less than a day in Michigan:

I'll admit that when we eat out, it's almost always in Tustin. We also go to a gym in Tustin. The drug store that we use is in Tustin as well as that's where the Trader Joe's that we shop at is located. The Costco that we shop at and buy gas at is in Tustin as well. Now we do go to church in Irvine and many of our parishioners are from Tustin.

OCU