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Moving isn’t for sissies.
Until now.
It’s no secret that I’ve always wanted to live by the sea.
The ad said it wouldn’t be ready until November, so I asked why.
I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why such a nice, beautiful house stayed on the market more than a few days on an island where long-term rental housing is very hard to come by.
Not only that, pet-friendly rentals are even harder to come by. I asked a few questions but didn’t really get answers, so I continued to plow forward, slapping doubt out of the way. A couple of weeks after I signed the lease, the next door neighbors approached me outside while I was washing the window screens. They were about my age, very pleasant, and I was happy to make their acquaintance. I kept scrubbing while I talked with them, and then they said it.
“We’re going to go ahead and tell you what happened here because you’re going to find out anyway”.
In the meantime, my car (Lexi is her name!) was rear-ended in Southport.
I did finally find a place to live.
Moving day arrived. The truck was packed all the way to the door, so I had to rent a trailer to pull behind it.
Snickers seemed to feel better the next day, so we stuck with our plan to leave on Monday.





Nearly every piece of furniture that came off the truck was damaged.
I go back and forth about whether I’ve made good decisions.

“This was definitely a post I enjoyed reading. I, myself have moved so much and have had good experiences and bad. The funny thing is, the more places we go and live in, the more experiences and stories we have. Thank you for sharing.”
“Always happy to see you in my comment box, Sarah. Hope you’re well!”
“I can’t begin to tell you how much I admire your courage. All my life, I have gone to my “”happy”” place in my mind. The sad part is, that’s as far as it gets. There are always millions of reasons for me not to do what I know in my heart is what I want.”
“Oh Mary Lou! You are so precious to me and thank you for saying that. I am just doing it scared like everybody else is. So many say I’ve been brave…I still teeter totter between I’ve either been extremely courageous or insanely stupid LOL! Mark my words, though…the day will come when you will actually take that a step further than just your mind and you’ll make a huge leap of faith to chase after what you really want. I’m here to hold your hand. Love you and miss you so much…”
“My mother always said that reality creates the most unbelievable stories ever! She was so right and after reading what you had to go through this makes even more sense now. I can’t believe you were actually about to get a house where drugs have been sold! It just goes to show that we should all listen to our gut feeling when it presents itself. Glad to know they let you out of that lease. Oh, and you have amazing friends!”
Thank you Gina! I do have amazing friends! It was a hellacious move to say the least. I’m certainly glad to be on the other side of it!!!
“Kristi – regarding that drug dealer’s house, aren’t there disclosure laws that protect people when it comes to deaths in homes? In all seriousness, though, the death wouldn’t have bothered me. But like you said, people showing up thinking there was still drugs there would!”
“I think there is that disclosure law in most placed, Jennifer. I’ll tell you – I thought I knew everything to ask about when buying or renting. This one goes on that list now.
“I will tell you the same thing I told my son Friday when he moved into his apartment in Manhattan…you are so brave! And I am so proud of you! And look at all the times we wanted to run away as children! Lol I dream about doing what you did and may still do it one day! You got this cuz!!”
“OMG!! I was just thinking about you this morning as I re-read my blog about loving men who are broken (funny, right?!). As I said, I don’t know if I’m brave or stupid, and I often feel like I’ve run into a burning building, but here I am. And just so you know, we probably really SHOULD have run away as children LOL! Love you so much. Come visit your favorite cousin at the beach!!! XoXo!”