It Started Last November

Hi and welcome to an old blog with a new tale. I just turned 70 in November. I have live in New England my entire life.Just prior to the pandemic (great timing) I ended what was a really lousy marriage. It was not either of our first marriages, and we got married for the wrong reasons. She was enamored with having a "do-over" for her first wedding (not a marriage but the wedding) and I settled for a not-so-good situation. I had never done that before. I love living alone.

The timing was perfect. Separate, file for divorce and then a pandemic shuts you down for over a year. Now, we all went through it. No one's situation was any worse. I just want to give it context. In the fall of last year, my son Ben came to me to give me a heads up that he was moving his family to Phoenix. I was stunned. I was instantly depressed. But then came the pitch: "Dad, we want you to come with us. Sell your home. We'll find you a new one. We'll pay for the move and if you don't like it we will pay to move you back." I had never been to Phoenix. It didn't matter. I have never lived in  the same city with one of my kids and their families. Within two to three hours, but not day to day. So here was an opportunity to do it. And more.

Ben explained that we'd go out in January and among other things, we'd look at houses. We weren't ready to buy, but it got me familiar with the city and most importantly I discovered what 55+ communities are like in Arizona. On the flight, my son explained that step one was selling his house. He planned to put it on the market as soon as we got back. In fact, while we were preparing to fly out of Logan in Boston, my daughter-in-law was staging the home. When that house sold, he'd buy his home in Ahwatukee. Then we'd sell my home, and I'd find one nearby. We'd be all moved in by June. As he talked, I could not help but feel there was an awful lot of wishful thinking involved.

So today is April 26th. The real estate market has remained hot. My son's home sold the first day for way over asking price. His wife flew out to Phoenix and Ben viewed homes through Facetime. Within a week, they found one. So last month, we put my house on the market. It took a week to sell my house. I got well over asking price as well. A week later, we found my house in Chandler. What seemed as very wishful thinking had been pulled off without a hitch. In fact it went so well that I will be out there as of May 26th. 

I feel as I did when I went off to college. I knew I was going to make new friends and new women, but I just didn't know who they would be. For a while at college I was very lonely. But this will be different because I will know somebody. And I plan to be active in my granddaughters' lives. So I plan to be very busy. 

Here I have a four bedroom home. Last week I either trashed or gave away four rooms of furniture. My bedroom furniture, my rec room recliners, my radio studio table & equipment and dinette set are all that's left! It's all that I'll need. I bought a two bedroom home. My radio studio will be in one of the bedrooms. I will love the one level. Presently, I live in my rec room. The stairs suck. I am now visiting or arranging to visit friends and family before I go. Yesterday my brother and sister arranged to meet me for dinner on May 18th. My close friends will be here on May 7th. Perhaps I'll be back, but I don't know. My friends are all married, which certainly makes it easier to leave. It just all fell into place.