I went to a fabulous quilt symposium north of Asheville and can't get it out of my head. Sometimes, SWFL is a bit hot, for like half the year. I get tired of that. My dog gets tired of that. The bugs in summer are HORRID. And sometimes the size of the community (teeny) makes me claustrophobic.
In other ways, I love it here. It's beautiful no matter what. The water is mesmerizing. The birds are cool. The summer skies almost make the icky parts OK. I have my people, a place. It's a good thing. But one of the many things I learned in moving here is that there are fabulous people everywhere--perhaps I want to test this theory by moving again.
So I went to the Asheville area, hung out with Patsy and Ernie who have created a wonderful life, and felt quite at home. And I think that area may be one that embodies some of the things that are missing in this area: hills, for one. Young people, for another--the average age of residents of Buncombe County is 39.7: I would be old there! (I recently spent more time than I want to think about in O'Hare and was boggled by the number of small children (and how young their parents are!) and it came to me belatedly that I live in a place with a lot of older people and not so many youngsters. Oh my and duh!) Oh and there are others...
And here're more reasons to move there (from the virtual magazine at imagesasheville.com): AARP declared it as one of the best places to "reinvent your life;" Farmers Insurance Group ranked it one of the most secure places to live; and my personal favorite--Self Magazine says it is the "America's Happiest City for Women"--do you think that means there are no men or tons of men???
It also occurred to me that I could make this just the first of a few more moves. Say I give each place a max of 10 years or so...I could have a good three moves left in me. Since Martha offered to take care of me when I am old and dotty...or dottier, perhaps i will leave Missoula for the post-70s...then there's Portland OR...and Jackson WY. Yup, time to get moving...
No comments:
Post a Comment