Okay Everybody...

I hope my vast readership is sitting down, because I wouldn't want either of you to trip if you're catching up on blogs on your iPad while, I dunno, walking on the treadmill. This is a REALLY long catch-up story.

I've been here for nearly a year now. The year has flown! I enjoy this little city and of course I'm loving being close to my son and family. Supergirl is the light of our lives, and watching her grow is such a thrill.

But for a few weeks now I've had this odd sense of ambivalence, like I'm not able to get my focus and enthusiasm where it should be. It just wasn't happening, and I wasn't sure why. I was crabby and out of sorts and conflicted. Something was just eating at me, and I felt myself sliding into a mild sort of depression. I couldn't decide on my next move - after nearly a year here, I hadn't even figured out where I wanted to live when my lease was up! I love Asheville, but it IS very small. I'd love to be retired here, but this whole earning a living thing has proven to be quite a challenge. I really do love real estate, but hardly a day passed where I didn't think, "Damn, this would be so much easier in Florida, where I have my people and know how the world works!"

I've also been seeing how much support my future daughter-in-law gets from her family. Both her parents and her siblings and an aunt and uncle are nearby, and they (and I) can pitch in with babysitting and other support when the young parents are juggling work and child - and FDiL only works 3 days a week right now. And I started thinking of my daughter. Her husband's family is in FL but not that nearby, and my daughter will be returning to her demanding full-time teaching job after her maternity leave, her husband works a lot of overtime, and they will be doing the working parents of an infant grind with little to no nearby support. And I think this knowledge was just simmering under the surface and making me feel very conflicted.

So, earlier this week I called my daughter and said, "I know you'd never ask me, but would it be good if I moved back?" And she was surprised but very happy, and the minute I opened my mouth and SAID it, it was like a light switch turned on in my brain, my head cleared, and I knew it was what I really want to do. Since that conversation, I think it was on Tuesday, I've felt light as air again.

I told my son, and he completely understood - he had a real estate license in Florida, so when I told him about the challenges I was facing here, starting out as a new face in a difficult market in an unfamiliar city, he totally got it. I've had the feeling for a while that this market is lagging behind the areas like Florida that were at the forefront of the housing crash. Prices here are still falling and there's a ton of unsold inventory. Orlando, by contrast, is seeing a small but steady uptick in average sales price, and has less than 6 months of inventory as the foreclosure flood has started to slow down a bit. And this market is distinctly seasonal - sales slow even more in the winter months - while Florida's isn't. And...and...and...so, that's it, I'm winding things up here and heading South again, back to the heat and humidity and traffic and hurricanes and all the things I bitch about, but secretly found myself missing lately.

I'm not putting the kids and new baby out of my house. I don't really want the house back, and I will have no problem finding a condo or townhouse to rent nearby. (Hell, I may even buy one for cash, live in it for now and keep it as a rental property later - they are THAT cheap.) I do have a plan - I'm driving down on Sept. 9th, so I can be there for the baby shower on the 10th and I'll bring a few boxes of stuff to store in the garage. Then I'll be back here, to wrap up business here. Back to FL in late October, after my son's wedding, with another load of stuff for the garage and to spend time with my new granddaughter and finalize my living and working arrangements, then back up here to pack and move. I will be back in FL by late November, ready to start work at a brokerage there - quite possibly with the same national name company I'm with now. I am NOT planning to return to corporate cube rat life.

I'm also not planning to abandon Asheville or my family here. I absolutely will be back for regular visits, for one thing, I have to take a couple more post-licensing classes to keep my NC license, and that will require some crazy back-to-back weekend visits in the next couple of years. And there is Skype - my granddaughter is no stranger to Skype, as one of her aunts is living in Germany right now. But believe me, this is a HARD decision. I wish I could just be retired with enough money to divide my time between my FL and NC families, but that's still quite a few years off.

In the meantime, Sophie and I will just have to soak up all the Supergirl hugs and kisses we can get.