re•lo•cate

I’ve been dropping hints the past several weeks of a big change coming.

We
are 
moving.

Not just selling our home and moving to another house in our city.  No. 

We 
are 
relocating.

To a small rural town 2 hours northeast of where we currently live.  It feels a bit crazy at this stage in our life to leave all that’s familiar and comfortable.  It’s especially bittersweet as our kids and grandkids all live within 10 minutes of where we live now.  It’s not a thought I would’ve been comfortable with 10 years ago or even 5 years ago.  But now?  Yes.  

Here’s why.

My love has driven semi for a trucking company for 34 years and has worked 12-14 hours a day five days a week.  A division of his company was established in the ranch town of Merritt several years ago and an opportunity recently opened up for my love to work from there.  He’s already been working in that area for the past 15 years, so moving there would mean shorter work days as well as not having to drive the Coquihalla highway.  Perhaps you’ve heard of the Canadian reality tv show called ‘Highway thru Hell’?  Enough said.  
Secondly, the real estate market the past few years has been crazy in our area and in favour of people selling their homes.  Not so much for buyers.  It is still peaking and a fantastic time for us to be selling our home and moving out of the valley and investing elsewhere.  So another aspect of this move is to also set us up better for retirement.

Lastly, it’s for the sake of adventure!  Life is too short not to be squeezing every wonderful drop from it.  In the 12 years that we’ve lived in this lovely home, I’ve never felt that it would be our last stop.  We both long for the outdoors, to have some breathing room and wide open spaces and so this move would enable us to have that.

So here’s the most challenging part…where one trusts the journey of the heart.  
We have no idea where we’re moving to yet.

There are several areas that we’re drawn to in the outlying regions of Merritt, but nothing has popped up on our radar that has interested us.  Our house is going up for sale the beginning of April and given it’s location and desirability should sell quickly.  So this past month I’ve been purging, selling stuff, painting, cleaning and doing what I/we can to have our house looking it’s best!  We decided early on, to take the pressure of finding a home out of the equation while preparing ours to sell.  You can be sure it hasn’t been easy resting in the fact that at this point we have no house to go to.  Yet.  I’ve been down similar ‘trust’ roads in the past that I’m sure something will come up, even if we have to find a place to rent for a while.  

Through this process, our kids have been amazing and nothing but supportive in their responses to us.  I’m so grateful they ‘get’ us.  They know and see how hard their Dad works and are happy for him to be able to finally slow down.  We are a close family and grateful to have good relationships with our kids and so this is hard.  We’ve shed tears and there’ll be more.  However, we are looking forward to new adventures and memories being made in our next place.  It will be somewhere they can come to and leave the busy pace of their lives for a while.  (And of course, we’ll drive down to visit as well.)  We’re hoping to find something to accommodate us all with enough acreage for the grandkids to run wild.  I look forward to exploring the many new trails and enjoying new photo ops and this area happens to be my loves playground, where hunting and fishing abound.  Wine country is only 90 minutes away and major shopping and restaurants are a short 45 minute drive. 

Anyone wanna buy a Mini Cooper Countryman?  Looks like I’m gonna need a bad ass 4 wheel drive truck and a cowboy girl hat!

So that’s my news and may explain why I haven’t been as present as I’d like to be on blip.  Because you’re you, I already know I’m forgiven.