I've blogged in the past, but this new adventure my family and I are about to take needs a new blog space. And so it is.
For many years, I've wanted to leave South Florida. I've watched lots of good friends pack up their belongings and hit the road, the latest of whom left our whole little family a bit out of sorts. I think it was that loss which lead my husband and I to think deeply about what we wanted and what we were willing to do to get it. Thus began our year of searching; searching for a new area to call home, searching for a new house, and searching our own souls and hearts to make certain we hadn't just been captivated by some sort of later in life angst. We explored the Daytona Beach area, Ormond Beach, and the surrounding areas, enjoying the scenery, talking with the locals, swimming in the ocean, discovering places we'd never shopped at, eaten at, or hiked. We fantasized as the homes of other folk passed by the truck windows and talked a whole lot about whether we might be crazy to be thinking about leaving the place where we've successfully run our business for the past several years. We returned home, talked more, wrote out lists of pros and cons, prayed, and finally decided that moving was really the only good option for us if we didn't want to stay in South Florida mired in regret. This area has grown too much. It's too crowded, too urbanized, too hectic, and too much of some things I won't post here because I'm not into going on a tirade of the things I'm weary of in this area apart from what I've already listed. People will get upset with me, etc.
After connecting with a realtor who was on our wavelength, we were able to find a beautiful home that was eerily like a house my hubby and I had drawn while dreaming about the kind of house we wanted to live in. We thought it had to be some sort of divine providence that our realtor had sent us exactly what we wanted (but better) and determined that if the house was still for sale after Christmas, we'd drive up to North Florida to take a look at it. We spent the next couple of weeks on holiday travel, rich foods, and obsessively checking the listing for the aforementioned house to see if it was still on the market. By the end of the winter holidays, we were sure we should go take a peek at the place which would later become our house on the lake.
Now, a couple of months later, we're very grateful, and very hopeful our house in South Florida will soon be snatched up by some family who loves it as much as we have for the past eight years. We've taken a leap of faith, but I'm sure it's a smart bet.
