Daily, I live here because of warm granite and cold lakes and loud rivers...because of deep snow in the winter, and every other sign of seasons throughout the year. I live here, daily, because cashiers at our local health food store and artists who run the local boutiques, and the post office lady and the vet and our family doctor know my kids' names. But in longer terms, I live here because Truckee, California is half-way between Auburn and Reno (less than an hour), where grandparents, cousins, uncles, aunts abound. Family is it for me. It's really why I'm here. I dragged my husband back here when our girls were two and zero-ish (setting up a life in Chile or France sounded good to him back then). I wanted to give them the daily gift of family. My grandmother was my very best human growing up and I wanted my kids to know that intimacy with theirs. I wanted my girls to wake up knowing their grandparents' laps & loves and calling their cousins their best friends. Daily and daily for years and years.