If you asked me ten years ago if I had any interest in going to Sacramento, I would say… absolutely not. I had visited once years ago with my parents, and I found the place fairly lackluster and dull, especially when you compare it to other cities across the U.S. But given the increasing cost of living in major metro areas in California like L.A. and San Francisco, a lot of people who would have liked to live in those areas have now been moving further north to the capital of California. One of our friends grew up in Sacramento, so she and her husband returned to Sacramento to settle down several years ago. Then, my good friend from college ended up getting a job in Sacramento, and she relocated from Arkansas for work. Now that we have friends in the area, it makes more sense for us to go visit.

As more people have moved to Sacramento, the food options have gotten better and better. There’s two major Vietnamese areas with good restaurants and grocery shopping. It has a budding Indian population; I was thinking of the South Indian spot we went to three years ago and thought it would not be the worst idea to go back and eat there again. And tonight, we went to a delicious Burmese restaurant called Burma Light in Folsom, where pretty much everything we ordered (especially the tea leaf salad and the Burmese style lamb curry) was very, very good, minus the garlic noodles, which were quite plain. I didn’t think the garlic flavor was that pronounced.

Our friend who grew up in Sacramento had a baby, and sadly, just weeks after her baby was born, her husband, our friend, died. We still don’t know what the cause was. Sometimes I think about it, and I’m still haunted by his death. When we last visited, it was just months after his passing, so it was still raw for her and the family; it was terrifying for all of us. Three years later, she’s adjusted to life without her life partner, raising their son alone. She used to have the support of her mom and younger sister, but since her other siblings (she’s one of nine kids!) have been having babies, her mom hasn’t been helping her much anymore. So somehow, our friend manages to work from home full time AND care for her son, who is now 3, full time. Luckily, she has at most 3-4 meetings a month, but still: I have no idea how she gets anything done at all. Babies and toddlers are so demanding. She manages a full house, all chores and errands, a full-time job, and a toddler all on her own. I was just in awe when she told me this. She’s truly super woman.