Moving to Higher Ground

Today is moving day.  As I look around, it will probably not be the last moving day.  Today is the day we move the big furniture, the kind we need a truck to move.  My spouse's brother will help us.  Because we are moving to a condo, we can't just move in any day we want.  We decided to pay the extra $100 to be able to move on a Saturday.  We have a 3 hour window.

We had a plan.  We got the U-Haul yesterday, and my spouse had planned to load the van while I was at a conference.  I needed to stay at the conference until 4:15 yesterday afternoon to get my CEU credits.  But my spouse could get a lot done without me, with just himself and the dolly.

The condo we're moving to has a landlady who lives states away.  We've discovered the locks to the balcony aren't working like they should, so we've spent the week trying to arrange to have a locksmith come in.  Yesterday, the plan was that my spouse would take an hour out of packing to go meet the locksmith at the condo.  

Well . . . the day didn't go as planned.  The locks weren't easy to change, and in fact, the guest room door to the balcony appears to be permanently locked.  The sliding glass door won't lock, and the master bedroom door has a lock that's not exactly fixed, although the door can now be opened.  The condo is on the sixth floor, so it's not as big a security problem as it would be if we were lower, but long story short, my spouse lost 5 hours of his day.

And then, when he was positioning the U-Haul in the driveway, he hit the gate--no damage to the truck, but the gate will likely need to be replaced.  He lost another hour trying to fix the gate.  

By the time I got home from the conference, my spouse's spirits had sunk.  We ordered a pizza and reassessed.  We went to the condo and tried to strategize.  I've been liking the condo more, as we've seen it empty.  When we first saw it, back in June, just after we had signed the lease, I felt despair.  Two guys were living there, and nice as they were, the condo looked so different than what I had imagined from the pictures.

I am not sure we will love living there, as we will have some irritations, like the parking garage.  But it will cut our housing expenses in half.

It's not like when we made our last move in 2013.  Back then, we were sure our quality of life would improve.  I remember feeling terrified about the finances of it all, and the house needed lots of work.  Now it's just the reverse.

I was less worried about climate change, although I did know that our old house was in a higher spot in Hollywood, literally 6 feet above sea level, not 2 feet.  But at the time, I thought we might be able to retire in the new house.  But here we are, moving back to higher ground.

The new report on global climate change comes out on Monday.  It's going to be grim.  I do feel like we're getting out in the nick of time, and I will feel more that way once we get the house sold.  The condo building was constructed in 2007, so it will be the first place we've lived in South Florida that's built to modern hurricane codes.  It has never lost electricity during our storms--it's on the same part of the grid as a local hospital.

We're not sure what the future will bring, as I start seminary in a few weeks.  So we'll keep our housing options open and a bit cheaper.  And we'll get to experience a different aspect of South Florida living.  We'll be across the street from the Hollywood Arts park, which is the focal point of several streets of wonderful restaurants, cafes, and bakeries.  

It's probably not what we want for the rest of our lives, but it will work for the next few years--or if it doesn't, we'll figure out what to do next.