Looking for the right spot to live is sometimes like trying to take a picture of a fish in the air.
You can spend a lot of time and still come up with nothing.
You can view a lot of my thoughts on moving by checking out the index to this blog. While I have written about moving a lot, everyone has events that make their own situation unique.
Our life went through a lot of changes in 2004. I begin to feel like I needed a change of scenery from Roanoke, VA where we were living.
At the same time my heart had found another home in Carteret County, North Carolina. There were several reasons why Carteret County met my needs, but mostly I was hooked because there is water everywhere in the county. The area also felt like home.
After much looking in Beaufort and on Emerald Isle, we found our special place in Bluewater Cove just three miles up river from Swansboro.
In the fall of 2006 we closed on our second home and have spent most of our time at the coast since then. Eventually we came to the conclusion that we had to choose the mountains or the beach.
It was a tough decision for my wife, but it was an easy one for me because my heart had already moved to the quiet waters along North Carolina's Crystal Coast. In August 2010 we put our Roanoke County home on the market. We are fortunate that it only took us two years to sell our home and bid adieu to Roanoke.
As I was making one of our last drives from Roanoke to the Crystal Coast, I got some some confirmation that home had become Carteret County. The drive from Roanoke to Carteret County is a substantial six hour ride, and as with any long drive you get pretty worn out. Five and one half hours into the drive I was nearly exhausted from the move, the stress, and the drive. Yet when I reached those tall pines of the Croatan National Forest, the stress started melting away. I felt like I was home.
That evening when I stood on our dock and the next morning when I went for a walk along the water, I knew that we had made the right decision. People and places change. What was right for us in Roanoke in 1989 had come and gone.
Our life is now at the coast, and I'm very happy I can still see the magic in any place. It is a treat that this new home is a place with waters and sky which can stretch your imagination. I'm going to enjoy those things that make the Crystal Coast special to us for as long as I can.
To me living in a place where life has no walls is a wonderful privilege. That we have already made some great friends and found a wonderful church home makes it even more special.
It is time for the next chapter in our lives, but we will keep the memories especially of that last Roanoke Christmas tree in the winter of 2011-12.
