I've been rather out of touch lately, but I don't need to tell you that! It has been a long stretch between the last post and now. Here are a few words to describe this intervening time: frustration, nervousness, relief, excitement, fatigue, overwhelmed and perseverance.
It's been an even longer time since I left California to start a life in Florida. For four months, almost to the day, Brian and I were homeless. We traveled across the States and arrived in Fort Myers. We unpacked our two suitcases in the first short-term rental which was a small place, about 800 sf., on a lagoon. Unfortunately the timing of our arrival did not allow for the full enjoyment of our temporary locale because of the heat and humidity. Except for short jaunts out and about, I preferred the comforts of air conditioning! Nevertheless, we were comfortable in our situation.
As is the nature of short-term, our time ran out at our little home on the lagoon so we packed up and moved a half a mile to another, bigger short-term rental. All the while we were waiting for some word, any word, on an offer we put in on a house - just a week after we first arrived. It was a short sale but still no communication after two months. Since we weren't locked into that house, we kept looking. We perused more homes online and actually viewed about half a dozen.
On one particular mid September day we had scheduled to view a few houses with our Realtor. On the morning of our meeting, Brian, the faithful researcher, noticed a new house on the market. We added that one to the list for viewing. Within minutes of stepping in the door, Brian had fallen in love with this obviously VERY recent foreclosure listing. I, not being one to leap, walked through the whole house analyzing. I have to say the view was hard to beat; plus, the house just suited us! I was sold on it and we put in an offer that day.
It was not all smooth sailing from that point. In fact, that started the frustration and the other facets mentioned in the first paragraph. However, all of those ups and downs are a dim memory now that we've been living in our house almost two weeks! There are still a lot of boxes and projects to do but we have our bed to sleep on, a functioning kitchen and, needless to say, a wonderful place to relax, have a cup of coffee (or iced latte) and soak in the warm weather! And it's bug free - I love these "pool cages." :-)
Now being more settled, I feel a greater ability to actually start life here, get plugged in and begin making connections. It will still take time, as the adventure continues to unfold!
