As I have mentioned before, my husband and I purchased a lovely retreat in Florida this past June. The first five months of what my sister and I refer to as Fla territory have proved to be an adventure in fortitude to say the least. Both my husband and I fell immediately in love with this house and community but from the beginning there were a few bugs to be worked out, starting with getting the owner to sell. Of course there is a story behind this.
My sister and her husband had spent considerable time and patience touring various areas with the husband's Mom who had expressed a desire to join the Fla ranks on her previous winter vacations in Palm Harbor. They eventually happened across this lovely 2 bedroom home in a well-kept park and the purchase was made. My husband and I had decided it was time to look for a place of our own near my sister, so naturally a good starting point was to look at the Mom's new home to give us some insight as to what might be available. Keep in mind that Mom had not as yet taken up residence in her Fla digs but was scheduled to arrive in April. My first thought as we crossed the threshold was "I want this house!!". Since it already had a new owner, I managed to keep my thoughts to myself as we proceeded to tour other homes in the same park. I admit to putting my sister to considerable trouble looking at houses for us and emailing pictures as we turned away every house she thought we'd like. As luck would have it, Mom decided to go back to Maryland and we jumped at the chance to take this property off her hands. I'm sure the Cajun gris-gris (voodoo) I mentally sent Mom had nothing to do with her decision not to remain in Fla. We happily sealed the deal in June and the adventure began that very weekend.
Those of you that have followed my mental wanderings in past blogs can recall the story of the Murphy's Law vacation I shared with my daughter and grandson. Figuring that all the kinks had been resolved, my husband and I came back to Palm Harbor in September just in time to be greeted by hurricane Frances. OK, what's one more little glitch? Granted Florida suffered through an unprecedented number of hurricanes and hurricane threats this year but, despite mutterings to the contrary, this was not precipitated by our recent purchase in Palm Harbor although the possibility does exist that my Cajun gris-gris decided to behave more like a boomerang than a targeted device.
Once more I decided to test fate and prove it wasn't me wreaking havoc in my adopted second home. I planned an October girls' getaway weekend with a good friend of mine thinking perhaps the gods would be kinder if I left my other family members at home. Just before our arrival, one of my new neighbors had asked my brother-in-law when I was due in and his immediate reaction was "Why?!! What did you see on the Weather Channel?!!". Talk about feeling like Typhoid Mary!!
I'm pleased to report that the girls' weekend went perfectly and a good time was had by all, perhaps too good a time Saturday night (Where's my Excedrin?). Firmly convinced that all hexes had been neutralized, my husband and I arrived in Palm Harbor last night with only slight trepidation. Noting that the electric was on, the air-conditioning functioning well and no signs of any tropical storms on the horizon, we settled onto the lanai to finally enjoy the contentment we sought when we purchased this home.
As I sit here in Palm Harbor writing this ( yep, I even finally got my Internet connection functioning after months of trying), I am glad to be a PTFP......Part-time Fla person!!