Friend, YES!!!!!!!!!  I can bring out my crazy on you and it hasn't scared you yet!  At least, I don't think it has.  We're staying as long as we voluntarily can! 

 First off, if you like mint in your alcoholic libations, I highly recommend a mojito.  Mmmm...

Anyway...  :)  We moved here almost five years ago from LA for my wife's work.  Remember the old TV show "Northern Exposure," where the doctor had to pay off his med school scholarship by working in the Alaskan wilds?  Well, substitute rural Kern County for Alaska, and that's how we got here--fully intending to serve our time and move back home.  My wife's service was over last fall, and we're still here.  It does grow on you, we're realizing more and more.  So far, luckily, we've only had two families of friends move away so far--and one couple were actually the first friends we met here, who got here before all the rest of us and who had the first kid in our group of friends.  While others (including, in the interest of full disclosure, us) grumble once in a while about moving back south, the rest of us are still here, living good, happy lives.  Good jobs, nice homes, no traffic to prevent us from visiting our good friends on weeknights... 

 We moved here from Ontario (California, not Canada!).

We moved to buy a house, almost 4 years ago now (time is flying!.

People do seem to move from here a lot...  A friend I met at My Gym just moved to the Bay Area because her husband is an engineer with Chevron and got transferred there.  Darn oil!  It was so sad because our daughters (hers, 16 months old) and mine (18 months old) were already like best friends.  They saw each other every Thursday (we had two church groups we both attended on Thursdays) and sometimes just for playdates.  Last week when we were headed to our morning Bible study, Katelyn got excited and started to say  "Lella!  Lella!  Yeah?!"  (Her buddy's name is Daniella, but Katie calls her "Lella!").  I almost cried.  I sadly said, "No honey, Daniella moved baby..."

But we have a business and aren't likely to move.  So we're safe!  :)

In fact we are always trying to get friends and family to move here! 

 My family moved here when I was in the fourth grade. We just built a nice house so we aren't planning to leave for at least a few years. I never really thought I would stay in Bakersfield though. It is nice and affordable. I just always wanted to be somewhere else I guess. Most of our family is here though and I don't know if an opportunity will ever present itself to where we can afford to move somewhere else. Even if we do move it will probably still be in California.

First of all, where can I get a Mint Julep? I LOVE mint! Secondly, We plan on staying for a long time!!! Obviously, things can change, but that is the plan. We moved here from an oil town, where we had lived sixteen years, and where we watched MANY friends come and go. Oil makes life hard - for more than one reason - look at the gas prices!! I don't know your first friend, but I do your second, and I am totally bummed that they are moving!! As for your final question, we came here because my husband is a pastor, and we were called to plant a church. I NEVER even dreamed of Bakersfield - and when it was presented as an option, I told my husband we should go look, but I expected to drive into and out of town without giving it much more thought. But we loved the people we met with and really liked most of what we saw, so here we are! And, now we really, really like Bakersfield! I don't really want to move. Our church, Kaleo Fellowship, is up and running, and though it has not always been an easy road, I am excited about where we are right now - in our lives and in the life of our young church! I don't want to leave any of it!!! So, we need to get to know each other better, especially if you plan on sticking around!!! Maybe we will see each other at a playdate this week!