Making a choice requires that we release other options - moving toward something and consequently moving away from something else. It's up to each of us to decide what's most important to us, what we're willing to accept, and what we're willing to let go of.
Three years ago, on September 1, 2016, Kevin and I sold our home in Middleton, MA and began our journey to the South. As much as we loved New England and hated leaving our family and friends, we were no longer willing to live with the congestion, high cost of living, and cold, snowy winter months.
We moved to Rising Fawn, GA, thirty minutes outside of Chattanooga, TN - an area which looks and feels like a warmer, less expensive version of New England. In many ways, our life and home there were perfect but but we couldn't get used to the social culture of the South. After two years we decided to let go of our beautiful home and friends there to search for a place where we felt like we fit in.
From there we moved to New Bern, NC, a city full of artists and New England ex-pats. Socially it feels more familiar but the flat landscape looks very foreign. My quarterly visits to see my mom in Massachusetts were making me ever more homesick. After six months we knew it was time to make another decision.
Kevin and I met in high school. Our dates, both before marriage and after, were long walks through apple orchards and pumpkin patches, reading Emerson while picnicking in a rolling field, and strolls through the shops of little market towns like Newburyport and Rockport. My mom and I had a tradition of seeing "A Christmas Carol" every year at the North Shore Music Theater and in the warmer months we'd search for different bakeries and chocolate shops to visit. With the North Shore Women's Group I tried falconry, hiked with llamas, and visited Iceland. I painted and visited art galleries with my friends. Kevin had a strong yoga community. These are the things that are important to us. We're willing to accept the cold, cost, and congestion for everything else that New England is to us. Once again, we have to let go of the home and friends we've made here in New Bern, but we're looking forward to going home.
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