Tuesday 4~Staying Put/Moving On

 

Staying Put/Moving On


Welcome back to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4.
Sometimes we live in the same place where we were born and remain there all of our lives.
Sometimes we move away and never come back because of jobs, marriage, circumstances of all kinds.
Sometimes we choose where we will live and we have definite reasons for staying there even though we might be far from family.


1. Are you far from family and if so why? Would you like to have them closer and have you discussed that with them?
Our two living sons are close by and that's the way I want to keep it.  We've already told Benton and Rose that if they ever move, we'll be moving too.  We don't want to be too far from our kids as we get older.  Our only grandson and his mother (family of our son Matthew, who is in heaven, which is too far away for now, but not forever!) live in Maine, which is too far away, but that's where their life is and even though we'd love to have them closer, I don't see that happening.

2. How did you come to live in the state you are in? How about the city/town.
My hubby was born in Florida, and my family moved to Florida from Pennsylvania when I was almost 6 years old, so I grew up in this state. My hubby grew up about 20 miles from my home, and we met at a community college in my freshman year and got married that summer. We moved to and lived in Orlando until he finished his Bachelor's Degree. However, once hubby graduated, we made LOTS of moves to other states over the almost 56 years of our marriage, primarily because of work, going to Seminary and serving in the ministry.  We finally moved back to Florida to stay about 28 years ago, mainly because our elderly parents were here and we needed to be near them to help them in their latter years of life.  We moved to our current town about 6 years ago because our son got married and moved here and we started visiting the church where they attended, and fell in love with the church and little town and decided to move here.

Living beside "Still Waters Pond" keeps us happy...

3. What good things keep you living where you are?
What's good about your state and town?

The main reason we stay here is because this is where our kids are. Also we love our house and Still Waters Pond and also the church where we attend.  

The town itself has some good things and some not so good.  It still has some "rough edges' and tends to be a poorer area that attracts a lot of people who live on the margins of life..i.e; drug activity is very high in this area, and a lot of roads are still dirt roads and there are a lot of run down houses, etc.  On the bright side, the town is starting to see a bit more development of businesses and newer homes coming into the area and new people migrating here from the north and other places, because it is still relatively inexpensive to buy land and homes here compared to other parts of the state. There are some pretty places to live here, especially on the lakes and ponds, of which there are many, if you can find affordable land/houses on the water.  We were blessed to find this house, which was a "foreclosure", so we got it quite "cheap" all things considered, and thankfully it didn't need a lot of work, but we have done quite a bit as we have been able to do it.

What's good about our state?  (Florida) Well, the climate, especially in winter, but not so much in the summer/hurricane season. Our fall and winter and spring are mild and beautiful, and that is why so many "snowbirds" come here to roost for the winter months from up north. Also we do not have to pay a state income tax in Florida, and other taxes are relatively low compared to other parts of the country. 

Also, I still have a sister and her family living in Florida, and my hubby has his brother and family also in that same area about 2 hours away from us.  So we enjoy getting together with our extended family whenever we can.


4. What things might convince you to move to another state or just another town?

As I said before, if our kids decided to move far away due to work, etc., then we would probably consider relocating to the same area. We are at an age where we know we are going to need more family assistance as time goes by, and we don't want to be dependent on strangers to help us, plus we just love having our family together for holidays, birthdays and all things in between.  I think because we were away from our families for so many years while our kids were growing up we missed out on being home for holidays, etc. and now I don't want to be away from family anymore. 

And that's pretty much it for this Tuesday 4. You can click HERE to join in the fun! 

Proverbs 23:18 NIV

18 There is surely a future hope for you,

and your hope will not be cut off.

Postscript for my records and if anyone else is reading this, you will have it too!  Someone mentioned that they didn't know I'd lived in other places besides Florida, so this link will give more information about our many moves.  LINK to our many moves