Leaving Home: The Next Adventure

I must apologize again for not posting more frequently, but if your last three months had been as hectic as mine, you’d surely understand.

I mentioned in my March 7 blog that I was heading to the Santa Barbara International Orchid Show, where I made some good contacts in the orchid world and purchased plants to ship to Idaho for our orchid society’s show and sale in April.

It was a whirlwind trip – at least partly because, while I was in California, I received multiple offers to sell my house in Boise. Yes, I’d been thinking about relocating, although my feelings were seriously mixed. I loved my home, my neighbors, my backyard raspberries, my routine.

And – just like that – I set them all aside for the chance to live closer to my son, daughter-in-law, and grandson in Central California.

How has Idaho changed me? It has made me more patient – kinder, I hope – and more introspective. I now have dear friends whose political views could not be more different than mine – and I know how to be OK with that!

Today, most of my worldly goods are still in storage in Idaho – and my feelings about leaving are still mixed. I’m staying in a drafty little cottage – at double the cost of my Boise mortgage – as I hunt for a new permanent address in one of the nation’s most expensive housing markets. That’s been depressing.

But I’m trying to think of the move as an adventure, and I’ve always managed to make the best of any situation. If you have advice about Big Life Transitions, let me know!