How to figure out if I want to live full time in one place or split my time between two (or three or four) places in my immediate future.
How I did it: Deciding where I want to live is always a challenge. So far, every time I've decided to make a move it has taken me a year or more to find the right space and this time was no different. However, we finally have the right game plan for the next stages roughed in...
- commuting to the city every 6 weeks
- 6 months is a big comfy home in a sleepy little waterfront community in a beautiful wooded area where we can kick back, relax, and entertain if need be
- the rest of the time back and forth to a very small home down South when and if we feel like heading down
The plan allows us to have the best of all worlds -- city nights, historic neighborhoods, big deep ocean waters waters for boating and surfing, calm gulf tides and while sandy beaches for lounging and sunning, and of course the quiet life. I finally found just the right house in a beautiful planned urban development home where you drive in through country club landscaping but look out over very natural preserves. Yep -- my new home finally makes me feel like I know where I belong.
Lessons & tips: Living in more than one city requires sorting and planning, more than anything. Deciding which things you want with you the most when you are on the road and what items you want to keep but don't want to tote. The antiques, family art, and big furniture pieces are headed to the big house -- the lighter weight pieces we are not emotionally attached to, second set of linens, towels, and classic clothing items for warmer weather get set in storage until a new smaller space can needs items to come down, and one full set of luggage with multiple bags gets packed for city life and colder weather get packed as the beach is down South but the city we spend the most time in on a regular basis is up North.
Resources: God bless the internet and cell phones. They made all the house hunting adventures I've had these past few months so much easier. The other thing that finally helped me make my decisions was for once, finally putting my own community needs above all the other folks tugging at me. Remembering to love myself enough to think about where I want to be long term so I can settle in and make friends in my new home area that I will be able to keep for the next forty or fifty years was what helped me make a decision, because I'll be putting down the deepest roots where I want to spend my time the most.
