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Friday, July 15, 2016

A Month in Michigan

We've been in Michigan a month visiting family and friends.  It's been a great vacation, weather-wise and in almost every aspect. The campground is awesome. Friends have been made with each new camper who has moved in near us and the privacy is nice. We're both really happy with this purchase and this campground. Holiday Shores personnel have been most helpful in absolutely every way possible. Five stars for them!!

We've had at least one day each week with no "dates" to allow for laundry and other errands as well as just enjoying the campground and campers. That has worked out well.

We have spent time with all of our family members except my beloved sister, who is expected this evening. They were out of state for a while, but are home and ready to socialize again!  It'll be a good evening with them, no doubt.

We've seen many of our old friends and had some quality time with them with a couple more planned before we leave. Each one a treasure for their own reasons and a reason to return each year.

Being here this long has reminded us how much we love Florida. How not living IN drama of family relationships is just easier. Our life is drama free in Florida. It's really just us and friends. We still communicate with family and we still love each and every one of them, it's just that we aren't in the mix of any spats or squabbles. It's good to be loved without drama.

Retirement for us has been a real mixed bag. We have lost Momma, Sadie and Jake, the pampered furbabies, we sold our beautiful home and bought another beautiful home which we sold eight months later and have now settled in our manufactured home in a senior development, (read trailer in a trailer park) where our neighbors are mostly just like us. They are mostly in Florida with children in some other state or the west coast side of Florida. We have Friends there. Good people. Like we had here, just newer friends we are still learning about. We are happy, relatively carefree and Miggy, the new furbaby, keeps us grounded. Sometimes literally because he has separation anxiety and can only be left alone in his own house, it appears, without spazzing out. Good neighbor babysitters make an occasional day trip, possible. They come over and take him for walks and then return him to his safe place, which is our bedroom.

As we make preparations for heading to Nashville on our way back home, we are patting ourselves on the back for having the nerve to pack it all up, sell it or junk it and simply start over at ages 66 and 77. It wasn't easy, but it has been the absolute right thing for these two old hippies. Life is good in Ormond Beach and visiting the old hometown for a month in summer is has been perfection, almost.

Reservations for July 1 through July 31, 2017 have already been made!  Well be back, Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise.

Jo

9 comments:

  1. Not many people have the courage or the means to completely start over and follow their heart. I love that you and Mike did just that. It was the perfect thing to do. Love you both!

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    1. We love you two right back. I really hope you and Kenneth, or you and a sister, (since Kenneth thinks we're in Mongolia or some other far away location!) can come down and enjoy a little time this winter. If you watch and fly into Orlando, you can get some bargain tickets!
      It was a HUGE decision, but we worked nearly 30 years towards making it happen. The rewards have been amazingly satisfying.

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  2. Glad to hear all is well and your decision to move to FL was the right one!

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  3. So happy you were able to make it back for visits with family and friends!!! You now have the best of both worlds, live in Florida and visit Michigan!!!

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    1. Eggs act lee! It's all good here in the 'hood. 💜

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  5. I love that you're happy and that the move turned out to be a good one. You deserve all sorts of happiness!

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    1. That's so sweet. Thank you. We always felt that the worst thing we would find was that we didn't like living there and then...well, we would have moved back or more likely somewhere else. Not that big a chance we were taking. The thing that held us for a while was whether or not we wanted to be so far away from everyone we love. That's the BIG decision. Turns out we don't mind so much, most of the time.

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