How Did We Get Here? Part Two

Someone I love, lost someone she loved.

It was sudden; it was shocking. It was a tragic loss of someone much too young.  And it was a stunning reminder that life is, indeed, short, and that you only get one.

This was a world-rocking event.

So here we were.  There was this pandemic, and it was crushing.  There was this horrible reminder that you're not promised tomorrow. So I did something that's not very characteristic for me- I was spontaneous.

People who know me, know that I'm a bit of a planner.  Taking a last minute trip out of state isn't something most of my people would expect me to do.

And yet, one early spring morning I found myself enjoying a Sunday, Sunday, Sunday (it's a thing, I'll explain sometime) with the laptop, Zillow dreaming. I kept seeing these condos on the ocean in North Carolina that seemed crazy-cheap (relatively speaking), but it was clear that the prices were on the rise. We had a little financial flexibility, thanks to all the building we spent the last few decades doing. So when one of those condos showed up again, I did a crazy thing: I clicked the "Contact Agent" button. The phone rang a few minutes later... and that started the whirlwind.

We booked a hotel, boarded the dog, and spent my April break in sunny NC.  We ended the week dropping off a money order for a deposit on one of those blue condos at our real estate agent's office on our way back to NY.

What just happened? Did we just buy a condo?

Yes, yes we did. We bought a condo at Topsail Reef.

The view that sealed the deal.

Since then, we've been there at least once a month- school breaks, holidays, long weekends. When we're there, we're happy. Even Tucker is happy (we call him Reef Doggy).  We walk more. We talk more. We relax more. We work sometimes. We watch dolphins outside the door. We collect shells. We watch sunrises and sunsets.  We eat ice cream and drink margaritas (not at the same time). We take naps. 

The plan was to stay in NY a couple of more years. Work, visit the condo whenever we could. But the more time we spend there, the more I have to ask myself, "Why wait?"

Telling my people at work.... oh, that was hard. It's not like they didn't already know. I mean... it wasn't a surprise that once the ball got rolling it would pick up speed. That's just physics, right? (I think it is, anyway. Physics class was a long time ago.)  But still... 

So here we are. Moving toward the next 3 decades. Building in time. Time to relax. Time to see the kids. Time to engage in other things that bring us joy (like actually using that longarm machine I finally got after years of dreaming).Time to be more active.

And that's how we got here. 

Reef Doggy at Christmas