Vitality Stories
Teri Case by Gretchen Lemay Photography
Moving and Traveling and Writing–OH MY!
The last two months have been chaotic. Our house sold after a few days on the market. We started purging, packing, unpacking, purging again, repacking, melting down, crying, asking ourselves how we collected so much unnecessary crap, unburied treasures we thought we had lost, questioned what we should do with thousands of photos, and then asked ourselves, “Okay, where to next?”
That’s right. We sold our house before we knew where we were going. Often times when I tell someone we have no idea where we are moving, they will say, “How adventurous.”
Yes, and crazy.
Since November 2013, we’ve made the following moves:
- San Diego, CA to Annapolis, MD
- Annapolis, MD to Seattle, WA
- Seattle, WA to Ithaca, NY
- Ithaca, NY to . . . wait for it
And still, with reservations about Florida’s politics (they don’t suit us), we decided to start house hunting in Florida. I know. We are confused. I mean, we are confusing.
But after all of our moves, we are certain, finally, about a few requirements:
- We need sun.
- We need the ocean.
- We need a walkable community.
- We need to be near an international airport.
Although Clearwater wasn’t originally on our list, it ended up being perfect for us. We found a spacious, top floor condo with balconies and views. I can walk to stores and ride my bike to the marina. Oh, and did I mention my realtor rescues and releases tortoises and has the smartest rescue dog ever? More on that in a few weeks.
An added bonus is I will now be near two “online” friends whose friendship I have greatly appreciated. In October, I will get to meet, at long last, author Carlen Maddux. Carlen authored A Path Revealed: How Hope, Love, and Joy Found Us Deep in a Maze Called Alzheimer’s. I credit him with the idea of adding a tagline to the cover for Tiger Drive: One family. Too many secrets. Four people want to matter.
And I get to meet Dawn. Dawn was a beta reader of Tiger Drive. And get this– she read it in one day while she was getting treatment at the hospital. When her night nurse came in to give her evening pills, Dawn asked her to come back in an hour because she had to finish my book, and she wasn’t ready to sleep. I can’t wait to give her a big hug for her sacrifice.
Believe it or not, during all of this change, I managed to finish the revision of In the Doghouseand send it to the editor a week early!
So In the Doghouseis now being dog sat by the editor. Now I can concentrate on my launch and marketing efforts. If you know any dog loving bloggers or organizations that might want to support In the Doghouse, let me know (did I mention a cat is involved?). For starters, DogTV has already said they are on-board. I’m ecstatic about this one.
So what should we do now until the condo sale closes on September 27th? Obviously we should go hiking in Italy on the Cinque Terre and roam about Italy for the rest of the month.
I’ll send photos.
As for Tiger Drive, I’m just going to park this humbling message I received from my truly lovely younger sister’s client who read Tiger Drive:
What have you been up to lately? Tell me all about it.
Until next time, thanks for being you and for your support.
Teri