My Last Morning as a Florida Resident (She Says with Hope and Trembling)

If all goes well with our move today, this morning will be the last in this condo, the last morning I will wake up as a Florida resident.  I realize that I'm only 57 years old, and I might be a Florida resident again some day.

The movers are supposed to be here by 9 a.m.  Because of condo rules, we can only reserve the elevator for a 3 hour period, so we don't have much leeway in terms of time.  I hope that the process goes as smoothly as it did on Tuesday.  We had a few big pieces that aren't going to North Carolina with us, like the piano, that we couldn't get out of here ourselves and take away. We hired College Hunks Hauling Junk, and they came early.  We couldn't start until 9, but they were here and ready to go, and the whole process lasted about 5 minutes.

We are packed--just a few boxes left to seal up.  The car is packed--just a few items to add.  Once the movers leave, we will do a quick cleaning, and we'll leave too.  We plan to be in North Carolina by tomorrow, in case the movers can get there too.  We have what we hope will be an internet hook up on Saturday.

I have decided not to walk this morning.  It is so dadgum hot down here, and I'm not exactly burning up calories with the small amount I walk.  Plus, I want to make good use of this morning time when I can get some online work done, while I still have a working computer and an internet connection.  During our time at Lutheridge last week, my laptop hinge broke, and I haven't been able to get it fixed.  I was able to get it closed and reopened, but I realize it may be living on borrowed time.  I have uploaded all of my files to the cloud.

I have spent weeks tamping down my anxiety about all that could go wrong.  I have done all that I can do on my part.  I am continuing to remind myself of all that hasn't gone wrong.  We don't have a hurricane or a tropical storm this week.  The moving company has stayed in touch with me the way that they said they would.  We have gotten rid of an enormous amount of stuff.  We are packed.  We are not sick.  We aren't needed elsewhere, to help ailing family members or in the event of some other crisis.

So far, with almost every step of this process of leaving Florida, the process has been smooth, and doors have opened when they have needed to.  Even the selling of the house, with the bumps and glitches that came with working with investors (a last minute inspection--please reduce the selling price by $100,000!), we navigated that and managed it all well.

Let me also remember that I got good news from Wesley Theological Seminary--we will have a 2 BR furnished apartment in student housing.  I knew that we would have a 1 BR, so I wasn't worried about having no housing.  But a 2 BR will be so much more manageable.

I will likely spend some weeks processing this move, this long goodbye.  I have had good farewell meals with friends, and I am sad to be leaving them.  But I am not sad about leaving South Florida.  I am tired of the flooding; when I tell people outside of South Florida what we have lost to flooding (we lost a motorcycle, we fixed it, and we lost it again in the next flood), they look at me like I'm crazy or lying.  I am tired of the traffic and the honking.  I am tired of all the aspects that made this place so charming when we moved down here in 1998 being bulldozed to make way for developments that won't help most residents. 

I am most tired of the high prices.  We got homeowners' insurance for our house in North Carolina.  The insurance agent apologized for the high price he was about to quote us:  $100 a month.  We will be paying for a year what homeowner's insurance (with special policies for hurricanes and floods) cost for a month.

As I work to quell my anxiety today, let me keep in mind our little house which will be our home base going forward: