I love lists. I love organization. I hate packing. Mind you, five years ago, my husband and I moved into what we believed would be our “forever” home. We have always loved the idea of downsizing to an empty nest. Please give grace, we have five children. And, prior to moving here, my mother in law lived in a suite in the basement of our spacious Georgia home. We were read
Our last “forever home-Take 1” was a beautiful 3 bedroom/3 bath house with a dedicated office. The split bedroom floorplan was excellent for privacy. It was, and is, the perfect home for the retired couple that we plan to be--someday. However, our “still pre-retirement” wish list grew to include more space for our “crafts”. At this time, my husband works from home and I am a female entrepreneur and the small business owner of BloomingDaisiesCrafts, as well as a small eBay boutique shop. All of this takes space! The picture shows after the storage unit was emptied of Blooming Daisies supplies...
The other “craft” would be a water craft…just about 6 months ago we purchased a two person catamaran called a CraigCat. I could go on and on about how much fun we are having when we get to take it out on the water. But first you would have to know that we were not able to find a storage facility close to our house, so the boat is an hour drive away, two hours roundtrip. The lack of accessibility kind of takes the wind out of our sails, so to speak. And the idea to “enjoy life” takes a mild hit—it’s a first world problem.
Long story short, we talked to a realtor, found our next “forever” home, put ours on the market (which sold with remarkable speed), and were planning a carefully orchestrated ballet of moving. The calendar included us being without a real home for a week, which gave us the opportunity to take a trip to visit family. Once the old house was packed up and stowed in two storage units, my husband and I started to drive to see the part of the family we had missed on our last grand tour.
As a reminder, we lived in Rochester, NY: the hubby—all his life, me—nearly half. It is where we began our life together and our kids grew up. The city holds many memories for us. It also is home to my mother-in-law, a brother-in-law and his wife and a sweet woman that is hard to categorize—part friend, part family—but only the best of those. And long time, good friends. Rochester, NY was our first “more than a glancing” stop.
Visiting the old stomping grounds is always interesting. It is funny how so many things change and yet it still feels the same. We have been gone for more than enough time that Rochester no longer feels like home. However, we were glad to enjoy good company at restaurants that still serve meals that taste like our memories. Nothing tastes as good as a memory!
Little things happened along the way to make the trip more memorable:
Our first hotel room had a broken thermostat. Or something. Anyway, the temperature would not get over 64 degrees. We are Floridians—happy Floridians. We love the sunshine and the mild temperatures. (I will say that 64 degrees was warmer than it was outside.) The hotel staff was very accommodating though and had us moved to another room in no time.
The mortgage/title company needed additional paperwork—big eye roll here! We had been in contact with the representative and had told them that we were packing up our house and that would include any paperwork they might need, “let us know if you need anything more!” My husband had told them that we would be traveling and would not be able to access the paperwork, “let us know if you need anything more before we leave!” But we still got a phone call requesting paperwork. Thankfully, my husband anticipated this and had brought the information along. Brownie points, hun!
Oh, and the gas pipeline ransomware. Anyone living on the east coast knows the chaos that ensued. For the rest of you, think Covid and toilet paper. There was talk of pushing the closing on the house because of the gas shortage, not from us, mind you. My husband’s response was, “I will push someone off of their ten speed bike to make the closing!” No one was harmed in the making of our closing date. As you can see by this picture, we really loved that view!
Enough for now! Stay tuned for more on the return visit with stops to see the “grands”, including our newest--Grandbaby Six!