Traveling in Savannah, Georgia

We spent some time in Savannah this past weekend as we traveled from Richmond to Florida in our Jeep.

I had been there about 20 years ago (oh how I hate saying anything was 20 years ago!), but J. never had. We got there late at night after torrential downpours and a few hydroplaning incidents.

We stayed on River Street, which seems a lot like Bourbon Street to me, without the smell of urine. The view was nice but overall it just wasn’t very impressive to be honest.

I really wanted to explore the old town part of Savannah since I hadn’t seen it before and I love old eclectic neighborhoods, and I miss mine so much. I can honestly say I was blown away. Everywhere we turned there was another cool shop or coffee shop, or awesome tree or amazing home. I was truly in heaven.

 

The trees that hang over most streets and sidewalks in Savannah are truly magical with the Spanish moss hanging off each limb as if the tree is holding the history of the town in the moss. The moss sways in the breeze as if to show how light each moment in our lives is. The branches are large, long and twisted and hang over each street protecting the town. They gave a sense of safety but were also a bit ominous.

 

We visited Forsyth Park, the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist (where we took a respite from the rain), the Colonial Park Cemetery, the Bonaventure Cemetery (the one the statue from the Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil used to be located before they moved it to a museum).

Forsyth Park was located in the center of it all it seemed to us. It was vibrant, welcoming and inspiring. There was a farmers market going on adding to the feeling of being in the middle of a community. There was an amazing organic grocery store and coffee shop on Park St.which seemed to be inviting us to stay and spend the afternoon watching the world go by.

Once we drove through the mixed neighborhoods of opulence, run down, apartments and 1970’s homes we arrived at the Bonaventure Cemetery. It seemed at once to take you in and make you forget you there was anywhere else but there. Each street is covered by trees as are the gravestones, the old (back to the mid-1800’s) and the new. The Wilmington River is the ending spot for the cemetery adding to the mystique of the place. We drove the Jeep through the streets, snapping pictures and enjoying the isolation this place offers. If I were going to be buried I have to say I would want to be here. It is protected, frozen in time almost, and honorary of the bodies there. It seems to protect them once they have been entomed there.

 

As I am writing this post I realize Savannah was a lot more to me than I thought it was. I would have liked to have stayed a while and see what other amazing things the city reveals once you have committed a little time to it.

Now I think I must go watch Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (I could use a Kevin Spacey fix too!).

Discovering Something New

My favorite part about moving to a new place is discovering all of the new things there. I love the different plants, foods, stores, landscape, weather etc. It is all so fun for me. While I have been to Florida many times to visit our family this is the first time we have looked at it as temporary residents.  The adventure of finding new places and figuring out how to get around has softened the blow for me of this transition.

It has been a bit of a struggle for us, leaving our dream home, our friends, our wonderful neighborhood, my staff and selling my business has been a lot all in one month. I am working to stop the struggle and to be grateful for this gift of time with my family which I may never get again. I know how lucky I am to be able to spend so much time with my amazing grandson and son and daughter-in-law, believe me. But there is still this part of me that doesn’t know what to do without my job, my house, my friends, my bike, my car etc. I am figuring it out. I am learning how to relax again, enjoying the time I have to cook, to actually read a book and to just sit quietly meditating or doing yoga.

We are so excited about the journey we are going to embark on that sometimes it is hard for me to sit still here, but I am reminded that when we move on there will be times I desperately want to be with my family so I am soaking in every minute of that now, and trying to focus less on who am I supposed to be now, there will be time for that. Right now I am supposed to be Amma (my special name as grandma), step-mom and mother-in-law which are pretty wonderful things to be.

Leaving Home

 

I walked through the empty rooms and hallways of our home last week as we prepared to leave. I heard voices; my niece and nephew calling me Necky, my granddaughter calling me Amma. They were loud voices, full of laughter. I saw them running through the hallways, reading books, waking up my husband when they spent the night, crawling, walking and standing looking at us, like they had done for so many years. I saw holidays, Christmas trees, parties and friends, all filling our home with laughter, love and memories. Then I saw the emptiness and then I felt it, we both did.

(This is the door frame of our pantry where each child measured themselves as they grew up.)

I held the banister knob in our hallway and stood quietly, letting go of the house but tucking away the memories so they would travel with me. My husband deals with this stuff differently than me. I want to talk about it, to share the memories, to laugh and to cry. He wants to just keep moving forward, not talk about it because it is too painful. So each of us humored the other as we let go of the house which had become a home, and filled us with such beautiful memories.

We know the couple who are moving in will build a beautiful life in this house and we are so happy for them. We are happy to be moving on to new adventures. But still so sad to leave behind the dream house we remodeled together. It was the first home we owned together and the first home I ever owned so it is really special to me.

I had to remind myself of what was to come as I closed the door for the last time and walked down our beautiful grey and white tiles, and closed the 120 year old iron gate which had welcomed me home for 8.5 years.

I said good bye to a part of myself as I left, this house will always hold a part of me. I think that is the beauty of old homes, they are full of stories and memories of the people who came before them. It was an honor for me to be part of its history.

 

How to Sell Your House in 48 Hours.

Our house was my dream house. It was built in 1891. It is located in the largest Victorian housing district still in tact in the U.S. When we were living in Italy my sister sent me the listing for our house and jokingly said, hey you should buy this one. It was WAY out of our price range at that time but I fell in love. Nothing we looked at for almost a year compared. We were just about to make an offer on another property when I looked across the street and there sat my dream house, no for sale sign, but it seriously called to me. We waited on signing the papers on the other house and put our realtor on the task of finding out what was going on with my dream house. It was just getting ready to go on the market again but a lot cheaper, just slightly out of the range we wanted to be in.

My husband, who is a dog on a bone when necessary, made it his mission to get me this house. He met with the owner one day and all but begged him to sell us the house, and he did! We moved in 30 days later and started a renovation that lasted the entire time we lived here, just wrapping up a week ago.

Our house has all the original hardware, flooring, moulding etc. from when it was first built. I always felt so honored that we were only the fourth people who had ever owned the home. It has been an amazing place for me and my family and I leave it next month with love and gratitude for all of the special memories. (I will post pics when we move).

Our house sold in 48 hours. I am so happy that the right people came in to the house of my dreams and fell in love. They made an offer and owned it within a few hours of seeing the house.

So, how do you sell a house in 48 hours? Fill it with love, make it as beautiful as you can, make a big bet with your husband, find a realtor who thinks it is as amazing as you do and then turn it over to the universe to the rest. (I know, I am lucky I listed at the right time in a hot market, in an amazing neighborhood. But my whole family has had these experiences in different states and neighborhoods, actually selling in 12 and 24 hours.)

I did win the bet, of course I will probably never see the prize (my husband is notorious for not paying up when he loses). But most of all I win this amazing feeling of taking something and filling it with love and memories that I will take with me forever.

How To Shop at Target?

I went to Target recently. I wanted to find a couple of short sleeved t-shirts. I took my grandson and when we arrived I put him into the Babyhawk Mei-Tai and off we went. Of course they didn’t have what I was looking for, and of course my grandson fell asleep in the carrier. In order to get a nap in I wandered around the store, taking time I never ever get to discover the cute stuff they had.

I picked up a few things and put them in my cart. After making it through about half of the store I realized I needed nothing. I was moving, selling everything, down-sizing, so what would I do with any of this? I circled back, put the things in my cart away, and put the cart away. Then I truly began to wander. I looked at sections instead of items, and realized there was no section to venture into. There was nothing I could/would take with me. I went to the book section, I can, after all, justify books. I didn’t spend long there, because I am committed to my local book store and feel like I am cheating if I buy a book anywhere but the amazing Chop Suey books in Carytown, VA.

So, what do I do? I would normally pick up a few cute things for someone, or buy valentine’s day stuff or something, but today nothing. I need nothing. I felt liberated and confused.

I called my husband, I had at least 30 minutes to waste to keep my grandson sleeping and no idea what to do. He suggested a magazine and a coffee at Starbucks. Great idea I haven’t had the free time to do this for years. Back to the book section I go. As I looked at the magazines there weren’t any for me. I didn’t see anything about selling everything, minimalizing your life to 4 suitcases and a box, and traveling around the world. I found nothing to hold my attention and certainly not to warrant the money for a magazine. To be honest, I started to get scared. What am I supposed to do with my time? What I am supposed to be interested in now? What will occupy my thoughts? Certainly not home decorating, fashion, or most anything else you find in magazines. While I felt great about not needing anything, or wasting money on what I actually don’t need, I felt lost, I feel confused.

I start to let go of just a little of what has become a norm for me over the last 9 years since we moved back to America. I get to return to the woman I was in Italy who spent her thoughts creatively, simply enjoying the moments in front of her.

This is going to be amazing!

About Me

I am a business owner, a step-mom, an aunt, a step-grandma, a knitter, a cook, a gardener, a scuba diver, a cancer, a crazy adventurous human being, a dreamer, and a serious-don’t tell me no-personality.

I write, I dream, I travel, I take pictures, I laugh, and I sit quietly giving thanks for every moment of this amazing life I lead.

 

This picture describes what has been going on with us for the last 8 years, waiting.

Eight years ago we moved back to the States from Italy. It was devastating for us. We loved living abroad and the move back was such a great loss, we grieved for years.

One night when my husband and I were taking a walk through our incredible historic neighborhood in Richmond (our substitute for Luca, Italy where we lived for 15 months)  I turned to him and said “God, please don’t tell me that Italy was it for us. I am too young for that to be it. I want a lifetime of adventures.” He looked at me, like he has so many times before, as if I am completely crazy. “Of course it wasn’t, we were just getting started.”

That set the tone for the goal. The goal that would hang between us and total happiness for 7 more years. The goal to check out again, to leave the conventional life behind, to live simply and happily.

Last year the fog cleared, an idea began to form and we said, “That is it. Enough of this life, working too much and losing too much time.” We decided to make a move. A BIG move. Another sell everything and go move. Only this time we are one month away from that day and have no idea where we are going or what is in store for us.

Our friends are enjoying our adventurous spirit. They seem to love to hear what a chance we are taking. Maybe so they can go home and feel better about their stability or maybe because for a moment it lets them dream about what they could do if they just jumped in, let go and went for it.

This blog is going to serve as our record of our journey. It will be about our struggles, our triumphs, our discoveries, our adventures, the lessons we learn, the people we meet, and the absolutely amazing accomplishment of letting go and following our dream.

I read some post on Facebook about building a life you don’t want a vacation from and then a day later there was a post about living the life you dream of everyday. That is what we intend on doing.

(This picture was taken by us in Roatan.)

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