Locutus and Kitty have a new six-bedroom house in Lake Elsinore, 150 miles from here. It has a fantastic view of the mountains. It's really pretty. In ten years, maybe even five, when the community has properly greened and everything isn't so new anymore, that neighborhood will be awesome. 

I went down there with Janice this afternoon. It was their house-warming/engagement party.  

Janice, Locutus and I used to work together in the same lab-- two different labs actually. The first one was shut down when its corporate bastards declared bankruptcy after years of mismanagement. Locutus had bailed a few weeks earlier before this and was already working at the second lab. By the end of the day they broke the news --it was Halloween, haha-- everyone had interviews scheduled with the second lab.   

Janice and her sister moved to California from Pennsylvania literally not knowing a soul here, true strangers in a strange land.  

That was six years ago. 

Her sister went home last year, fiancé in tow. Janice is also going home, because she misses having real seasons, and her own fiancé is already there. Her last day at work is on the 30th and she's flying out that very night. We probably won't see her again. 

The thing that blows my mind is that it's only been six years. It feels a lot longer than that, like maybe ten or thirteen.  

This is making me sad. But I don't know which part.