I'm back! Let's talk about stress. . .

Moving, they say, is the second most stressful thing you can experience. Thirty years of stuff accounts for a helluva lot of stress, I'm here to tell you. But here's the good news.  The OCD side of my brain made it imperative that every box be unpacked and every picture and painting hung.

The fact that my cats, Wasabi and Ginger, kept looking at me like "When are we going back home,Mom?", didn't help the situation, but now, exactly three weeks to the day after arriving in my new Charlotte, NC apartment, I am actually starting to feel at home.

Wasabi, trying out my new desk.

There is no Publix in the area, but I can find my way to Harris Teeter Market without getting lost. (I keep calling it Harris Tweeter, to my daughter Andrea's great amusement.)  I bought myself a Garmin GPS for my car and promptly returned it to Best Buy because I couldn't even attach it to my dashboard, much less figure out how to program it.  Thanks to Google Maps on my iPhone, I'm not doing too badly, thank you, although without the ocean to let me know where East is, I have absolutely no idea what direction I am heading.

Yes, I miss Miami, and all my friends, but as those who know me well will understand, I'm a great one for moving on. . this time to a whole new life in a whole new place.  I'm already looking into volunteering at the Mint Museum and am planning to help out at the Charlotte Center For Abandoned Animals where there need help bottle feeding some 50 rescued kittens. That's right up my alley!

I'll continue to write the monthly blog for the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and probably be doing writing for Andrea's marketing firm.  And I'll continue Musing, so don't count me out, cause I'm still very much here!
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Ginger, surveying the new surroundings. 

Moving on. . .

Tomorrow's "moving day", guys. . .it's goodbye to Grove Isle and thirty wonderful years in this remarkable place, and hello to my new digs in Charlotte, North Carolina, close to my daughter, Andrea.

Sunday night my dear friends Virginia Jacko and Gill Freeman hosted a fabulous farewell party for me that was very touching and gave me a chance to say goodby to a whole host of friends and neigbors.  I've made a mental list of the things I will truly miss about my life since arriving in Miami from Mt. Vernon, NY, with a five year old daughter, in 1957.

. . .the view of the sun rising over Biscayne Bay when I wake up in the morning
. . .volunteering as a tram guide at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden every Friday morning
. . ."Wine Down Fridays" at the Dog Park every week. . I represent the cat owners of Grove Isle
. . . the great friends I have made here at Grove Isle and throughout my pr career in Miami
..... my dear new love, Paul. . .not so new, it's more than three years now.

To you, my blog friends, I'll most definitely keep on blogging.  Give me a little time, (probably at least a month) to get unpacked.

So, bye for now. . .like what's his name always says. ..I'll be back!
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