A month in Key Largo

I usually have something I want to write about but this weekend I was drawing a blank so I figured I’d sit down and see where my thoughts went and invite you along for the ride! I hope this blog will help you or someone you know see what it’s like to make big life changes – at least from my perspective – so I think it’s important to write about some of the struggles along with the awesomeness. So here we go.

We’ve been here a month today. That’s enough time for the dust to settle and for it to sink in that we’re really here for good. That’s not exactly it though since we’re not here for good – it’s more the realization that were aren’t going back to our old life in the mid-Atlantic. This seems obvious since we sold our house and all of our stuff but the logistics of doing that and the feeling after doing it are very different things. That’s the difference between now & over the winter. We were going back then and now we’re not and that’s okay but it’s a different feeling. It’s caused me to look at this current experience through a different lens. A lens of finality to that chapter in our lives and to embrace the temporary nature of our new life. I wouldn’t say I’m homesick exactly although I do miss certain things quite a bit, it’s different from that, more a feeling of mourning which is clearly hard to put into words so I hope you’ll know what I mean. Moving here for the year is also the next huge step in leaving the rat race behind which is both exciting & scary.

We currently have a one year lease that likely can’t be extended. The owner was living here full-time and had to go to New York to take care of some family stuff which worked out well for both of us, so that really gets us thinking about what we’ll do next year when it’s up. For the first time in our lives we could do anything. Everything we own fits in/on our two cars. We could keep working & find a new rental here or anywhere in the U.S. or throw in the towel on corporate life and go on to the next adventure and see where it takes us. We have 11 months to decide & leaving corporate life is what we’re leaning towards. When we think about where that next move will be we both keep coming back to Mahahual. I still need to write my pro-con “is Mahahaul for us” post, it got lost in the shuffle of coming to Keys for the winter last year but I think it just might be for us at least for a while. Before we make the final call on it we’ll be going back for another, longer visit.

I also want to check out the USVI before we make a final decision. We can’t live there without working full-time but we can work there legally so it has some potential for a few years. I wouldn’t take an an office job though, that would just be relocating the grind which I’m not interested in doing. I want to be outside & away from a computer, preferably diving or doing something else on the water. I’ve read all I can about the islands online and it’s time to just see them for myself. St. Croix and St. John at least, I think I’ve learned enough about St. Thomas to know it’s the island I’m least interested in.

I took a break from writing this post to make us breakfast and I flipped on Krista Tippett’s podcast “On Being” like I do every Sunday and the the snippet I heard was a perfect fit for me today. Her guest was talking about giving feelings and thoughts power and clarity and she said just write 3 sentences a day. They don’t have to be good sentences or even related to one another and you don’t have to show them to anyone either, just write them down and see what they show you. I guess that’s what I did here today except I wrote far more than 3 and I am showing them to all of you.

In 3 sentences this is how I feel right now:

1. A little sad about leaving our old life, about the finality of a closed chapter and thankful it was such a great time that it’s been so hard to say goodbye to.
2. Excited about our year in the Keys and taking advantage of everything being here has to offer.
3. Eager to see what the next few years has in store for us.

There, I feel better. I’m not sure I accomplished anything here other than working through how I feel at this very moment and giving those feelings some life.

More to come … and more to come about life in the Keys. I have a lot to share.

Until next time…

Warm thoughts to all!