In 71 years and nearly 10 months, I have lived in 10 different states from one ocean to another.
Only once did I leave a state and then later return to live there again, and that was a state I left without having any memory of living there the first time. I was born in California, but my parents moved east when I was one year old. I moved back in 1990 and lived there until 2010.
Aside from that, I never moved back to Illinois, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Missouri, Colorado or Nevada. I can’t count No. 10 — Georgia — because I still live here.
I have no real memories of Illlinois, mostly because we left for Ohio right around my third birthday. I have solid memories — many good, some not so good — of all the other places. I have written before about how I have lived at least 10 years in four different states, something I think is relatively rare.
We have been giving some thought to the idea of a new location, although it would be a little different this time.
We’re not getting rid of the house we have. We’re happy with it, it’s completely paid for, and we have put down roots of a sort in 11 years living an hour south of Atlanta.
There is something special to both of us to own and live in a house that has never been home to anyone else. I lived in three different houses as a child that were all brand new to my family, but my parents were the ones who owned them.
So no, we’re not leaving Georgia.
But we are in a position where we’re giving serious thought to buying a second house as a sort of getaway place for long weekends and vacations.
Actually, the idea came as one of two possibilities. The getaway place was one choice, while a place actually to live for part of the year was another.
The two possibilities would take us in two different directions. A place to live part of the year might take us west to Colorado, while a place to visit frequently might mean north to western North Carolina and the Appalachians.
I’ve got to say the second way is how I’m leaning.
Somewhere from Hickory out toward Asheville. The plan would be to buy a 2-3 acre lot and then build on it. There’s a company that builds all sorts of different homes — Log Cabin Homes — located in North Carolina, and we’ll probably go up this weekend and check it out.
If it happens, I’ll be returning at least part time to a state where I lived for 19 months in 1982-83.
We probably won’t have the wonderful view from the picture at the beginning here. That’s looking west from Asheville, but that’s OK.
We would be close enough to see that view any time we wanted.