This blog post is a little different - it is the first I have written outside of Florida, and with good reason. We are no longer in Florida! On New Year's Eve, I spent the majority of the day hauling many heavy boxes into a 16-foot Penske truck, and at around 8:30 that night we pulled out of our driveway in Lakeland, FL, for the last time and headed east on Interstate 4 before turning north on I-95, and by the time 2017 dawned, we were north of Jacksonville heading out of the state. Our New Year's began with waking up in a motel room in South Carolina - myself, Barb, my 70-year-old mother, and our three cats in tow with a Penske truck parked outside - and by that evening we were pulling into Martinsburg, WV, at the Super 8, which was to be our home for the next week. Then came Friday the following week - we got a nice rental home in Hagerstown, MD, and I spent Friday night and early Saturday morning, in 11-degree weather with snow on the ground, unloading many, heavy boxes. It is now two weeks later, and exposure to the cold has given me a nasty cold I am still recovering from, we are sleeping still on an air mattress temporarily which tends to deflate at least a couple of times a night, and we are still unpacking those many, heavy boxes. Yet, no regrets - we are now where we are supposed to be, and a new chapter in our lives is opening up for us, and there is a lot to look forward to.
Up until December 31, 2016, I had lived in Florida for 27 years - I went down there right out of high school back in 1989 to start college, finished my degree, got married, and we lived there in three cities ever since. A lot of good things happened for us there, but to be honest, we were supposed to have been out of Florida over 20 years ago but failed to take the opportunity. However, now we finally listened, and although a lot of sacrifice has been made with this move, it was something that needed to happen. So far, the new digs have not been without their challenges - it took almost 2 weeks to get internet service, and we still need to get the majority of our furniture while my new office is basically taken on the resemblance of an Amazon warehouse - books piled all over the place, and about 13 inches to get in the door. But, all in good timing. Being sick with a nasty cold (never sweat and engage in heavy labor in 11-degree weather, for it will come back on you with a vengeance!) has complicated things somewhat, but the good thing is that I already had my job with me, and I continue working too. Our new place is a mobile home in a very nice lot outside of Hagerstown, and it is neat, quiet, and I believe is going to be a great place to live. One of the first things I noticed the first morning we were here was the sound of a flock of Canadian geese that have established their own little community in the pond down the street from the house - in Florida we had the ibises and sandhill cranes, and here we have Canadian geese. That is endearing though, as I love birds and they will be an aesthetic pleasure to enjoy while living here. We have also spent the week establishing ourselves too - a new bank for me, two addresses (our physical address in Hagerstown, and a P.O. Box in Martinsburg just over the Potomac), and getting in on all the savings and perks clubs at the local supermarkets (Weis, Martin's, Shop and Save, and a neat gourmet grocery store in Frederick called Wegman's where I can still get my coveted blood oranges!), as well as getting established at our new Anglican parish in Frederick. So far, we are getting off to a slow but good start, although I will be very grateful when we can get rid of that infernal air mattress for good and actually sleep on a real bed again!
This is the most dramatic new chapter we have embarked on in many years, and there is a lot to anticipate, be excited about, and even fear a little, but God is in it - God's role is the one thing I am absolutely certain about, and He wants us here for a reason. So, here we are. Now, just stay tuned as the chapter starts to write itself, and I will be telling more in the near future. Happy New Year to all my readers.
