Member-only story
I’m Glad I Didn’t Run Away
My move nearly 4 years ago had an inauspicious beginning
My son had been living in North Carolina for 20 years before I moved down here. He’d been telling me all those years how much nicer it was down here, but I had the usual upstate New York fear of hot summers (we hate them) and I was firmly established with a house, a husband, and a couple of part-time teaching jobs that I cobbled together to form a career. I just couldn’t picture moving 12 hours away.
Gradually, though, situations in my life changed. Changes at both colleges resulted in loss of friendships or ability to have time with co-workers. My best friend died of bone cancer. My colleges were losing students, so my class choices were getting fewer. And then my marriage finished breaking down after 6 years of weakening. I decided to fix the house up a little and put it on the market. It took a little over a year to sell, and I didn’t get nearly as much for it as I thought it was worth.
The house I found down here is perfect. I love high ceilings and fireplaces and huge back yards for my dogs, and it has all those. It’s also on a cul-de-sac, so I don’t have to worry about the dogs getting hit if they manage to get out of the fenced-in yard. I’m close enough to my children to see them often but not so close that we would get in each others’ way.
