I grew up in Michigan and so you would think that I'd be used to winter. I'm not. December is OK because it's the beginning of winter and I'm excited to see snow. I enjoy those first few times of being snowed in and sitting with a glass of wine by a hot fireplace. And then you have the Holiday season, which gets you through the beginning of January. But then, Mid. January comes along and I start getting stir crazy. I start hating the cold and the lack of sun. It seems like one gray day after another and I craaave the sun. We usually go on a vacation to somewhere warm and tropical but that polar opposite experience only makes my disdain for winter worse. I am not trying to complain or be negative. I am not a negative person at heart nor do I dislike many things. However, winter is on the short list of things I dislike.
Every winter, I start thinking about how I want to live somewhere that's warm year-round. I have had this thought for the past four or five years now. I start looking at real estate and jobs online in warm cities such as Charleston, SC, Los Angeles, Miami, Sarasota, Phoenix, etc. I have REAL thoughts about what my life would be like living in one of these cities. I think I would be happy, but I"m not sure. The only thing that really keeps me in Michigan is my family and friends. My mother is 71 and my father is 78 and living in a nursing home because he has Alzheimer's. It would be really hard to leave them in the situation they're in even though I have five other siblings that can help them. I want to be here for them. Also, friends are extremely important to me and we have a great group of friends here. Would I make some great friends in a new place? I probably would because I'm pretty outgoing and I know I would make a good effort to meet people. I know I would not be happy without a good social network. I know we could both find good jobs in a lot of warm cities and so that's not really a factor.
I don't know if we'll ever move or if I'll just continue to dream about it every winter in Michigan until spring comes. I do love spring and summer in Michigan. Are six good months out of the year enough, though? Big decisions are so hard to make. But I think back on every big decision I've made and realize that I've never regretted a big decision. I love that I chose MSU as my college, I love that I moved to Chicago afterwards, I like the profession I chose, I love the man I chose to spend my life with and I love my baby girl that we had almost twenty months ago. So I hope that I love whatever decision I make about where to spend the next chapter of my life whether it's in Michigan or somewhere warm.
Yours,
Wanderlustmom
