Where do we want to live....
as we get older....
Do we want to retire in this house?
We have spent recent years driving around and looking at places and thinking about the various areas where our children live.
Would we want to live in Utah?
Or Twin Falls?
Or Denver?
One day I had such a clear thought.
I love Southeastern Idaho.
I love the 4 seasons....even the longer than necessary winters.
I love Southeastern Idaho.
About that same time a dear friend mentioned that a house next to her was going to be going up for sale.
I love the area she lives in and have been to her house many times.
I have "oohed and aahed" over her mountain view and remote home.
So I started dreaming about it.
And broached the subject with my better half.
He was a little resistant.
It was further to work.
And selling your house after 30 years of living in it....and changing neighborhoods....and Wards... and all that was familiar.....and what about his 5 AM Crossfit???
But after a few months he went with me to look at the house.
All the way home that night....(December 5th to be exact) we talked about what we would do with this room and that room and how we would organize ourselves to be able to sell our home in Rexburg.
Then.....early the next morning Howie had a cardiac arrest.
All things stopped.
Nothing else mattered.
I didn't care about anything in the world except him.
But he did recover.
And even in the hosptial prior to his open heart surgery he said.."I still want to sell the house and move".
I replied that I didn't want to anymore.
I had everything in the world I wanted.
And that was him.
Healthy and whole.
He just said...."it's time."
Rexburg has grown and grown and crowded out neighborhoods, torn down homes. Our entire ward has been affected greatly by this. About 20 homes torn down to build high rise student housing complexes. It has been sad for me to see all this happen.
Another multi-story complex was going up at the end of our street.
I guess I'm a country girl at heart and felt like I was being crowded out.
It's great that the university has grown so much and is able to provide such a great education for so many, but living 2 blocks from campus with the growth just was more than we wanted to deal with anymore.
So in my mind I just put everything in the back burner.
We will see what happens.
Howie's recovery was #1 priority.
Well, as mentioned in previous posts, his recovery was and continues to be miraculous.
You can't see it very well, but there is a "For Sale" sign in the front snow drift.
On Thursday we had someone come and look at the house.
On Saturday it was sold.
Wow.
Things happened so fast. Every step of the way it was like things were working out for us.
We had a few repairs to do and Howie laid some carpet in one of the rooms downstairs in the apartment.
But he felt good and we had some friends and family helping us through the various projects that we had.
So....on February 10th we moved.
We packed up 34 years of living in Rexburg and 30 years in the same house and moved.
Sometimes as I look back over these last few months (I'm actually posting this on July 23rd) I'm amazed at how quickly things moved, how it worked out and how incredibly blessed we are.
Our kids came many weekends to help us paint and pack and move.
We had old friends and neighbors help us.
And we had new neighbors that we didn't know show up and help us.
And we are so happy.
It has worked out.
My view is gorgeous.
Nita is my neighbor....we have worked together in the ER for 20+ years.
It's her "fault" we are here.
Just because she mentioned on day....."there's a house next to us that is going up for sale".
Howie still goes to Crossfit every day.
We are about 23 miles from where we used to live...30 minute drive along country roads.
We love driving in together and having that time to visit.
I still pinch myself because things are so good.
And I will miss my neighbors sooooo much.
