Scruffdog and I flew on a Jet Blue airplane to California last week. I sat in a seat, he sat under one. He slept a lot; I didn't.
I grew up in Southern California. I've been in the Northwest for 20 years, and my boomer bones are longing for warm weather in winter. I thought I might try the snowbird routine: head south in winter, back north in summer. My California mission was to find an inexpensive winter retreat. But something happened I didn't anticipate. While visiting my favorite aunt and uncle in their "fun in the sun" retirment community near Palm Springs, I found a house. THE house. The beautiful house I could live in year-round, with lots of amenities and people to play with. Kind of like a never-ending school recess. Something inside me said, "YESSSS!!" and I made an offer on it--just like that. No one is more stunned than I am.
I'm trading rhododendrons for bouganvilla, cabin fever in dark winters for cabin fever in really hot summers, and long underwear for gallons of sunscreen. Scruffdog is a hedonist, like all dogs, and loves heat. He's rather pleased with my decision.
While the financial stuff creaks its way through real estate ping pong , I am left to stare out my window at the rain and wonder, "What the hell have I done?" The right thing, I hope. With any luck, I won't have to move until after the summer, so I can acclimate gradually--like the frog put in the pot of cold water over a burner, who doesn't notice the heat until it's too late to get out.
When I was a kid, we used to call people who preferred the desert "desert rats." They were always tanned and inexplicably happy. I hope I'm going to find out why.
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3 comments:
My sentiments exactly, what the hell did you do!! ;) I'm really happy for you, and I'm glad you're thinking about moving AFTER summer, that way, I too, can acclimate gradually with the idea of you leaving. Hugs~
But, but, but...there are retirement resort communities here too! (whining) I'll miss your observations of PNW winters...and humor. Maybe you can still do the snowbird...live in Palm Springs most of the year and then escape to the PNW during the worst part of the summer heat in PS?
I am flattered, dear readers. I would dearly LOVE to be a snow bird, or even to buy a house in a sunny area that doesn't get 118-degree days in summer. Sunny it must be, since Bemused Boomer suffers from SADS (Seasonal Affective Disorder, or some such.) The affection of friends and readers will be hard to leave,but the PNW just isn't healthy for me. (Do you have any idea how hard it is to see things humorously while sitting under a therapeutic "bright light," only able to move at approximately the speed of a tree sloth?)
I had hoped my Little Pile of Money would provide homes in PNW and PS; but alas, my LPM is too wee to accomodate that.
Making an offer on a short-sale home is a pretty iffy proposition, I'm finding. The bank might like, they might not. They are very unimpressed by my "YESSS!" moment. But then, they are accountants in back rooms, who probably don't trust their own YESS moments, let alone those of crazed, migratory boomers.
Options still open, but generally don't include spending another winter grafted onto a couch.
Like most migratory creatures, I will return here for at least a week or two each summer. Maybe you'll see something you haven't seen on this blog before--appreciation of PNW weather!
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