MOVING ON?

Recently - sort of out of the blue - my beautiful wife (BW) announced, "You know, I think I could enjoy a taste of the north.

Yep, that's how it started.

Our marriage is like a finely oiled small business. BW is the entrepreneur - the one who comes up with the ideas - and "Old ish" here is the worker ant - assigned the research function, etc.

Do you have any idea how few apartment complexes in the Forest Hills/Monroeville area of Pittsburgh have pet-friendly buildings- regardless of your protestations about your well-behaved 3.1 lb Chihuahua - who is not a barker?

Of course you don't. Maybe it's because,as somone who is deemed to be reasonably bright, you never really wanted to find out

We once had two beautiful homes back in Pennsylvania - and commuted back and forth to our Florida home for a total of about 2 to 3 weeks a year - just about sufficient time to finish the landscaping down here.

Now, we're looking at ads for apartments and houses in the north - much smaller than either of our former homes were up there.

The why is a no brainer. We sold the last home because it was much too big for us - downsized to the point that the next step was a GE Refrigerator box - and are quite content. Or almost.

They say that once you make that first big move - and survive - you can live almost anywhere the second time. Maybe that's true, but so far I have resisted the charm of Myaka in the South and Wilmerding in the North.

Maybe the inherent error in the last paragraph is that once you make that first "big" move you feel compelled to make a second.

Methinks, that even contemplating doing a "6 and 6" commute between the north and the south - is due to your failure to recall the disaster 150 years ago when people from the south and the north insisted on visiting each other.

Perhaps it's also partially due to forgetting that after packing up the remaining belongings from 2 homes just before moving here, at least one of you swore, "I will never move again!"

Then both of you pricked your little fingers, pressed them together with that of your spouse and danced off with the Tin Man, the Lion and The Scarecrow.

One final lingering memory is your decision to "forever" leave the comfort level of the north and head for the home in the south because,"I'm sick and tired of never being able to find anything in one home and always having to assume it must be in the other."

Apparently sanity is a fleeting concept once you reach a certain age.

So, is what we're considering a stupid decision - regardless of whether or not it ever comes to fruition?

Actually, no. It's sort of exciting - like jumping out of a plane with an object tied to your back that a stranger packed for you.

So, what is the source of this excitement? The kids? The grandkids? Being closer to both as well as your roots?. The changing of the leaves? Avoiding the bombastic heat of the south in summer and the horrendous cold of winter in the north?

Or,is it just the absence of good crab stuffed pretzels down here?

Might it be an unfulfilled desire to once again drive on pothole crater roads?

Perhaps it's a lost feeling of superiority to be able to curse the claustrophobics who immediately slow down once they enter the Squirrel Hill tunnels?

But, then again, maybe it's a well thought out concept of having two central bases from which you can do some of that travelling you've been talking about for years; but couldn't do because one partner was still working.

In response to all of the above it might be better to ask BW - the entrepreneur - who's seriously thinking of placing her keyboard and monitor in storage.

More later from "Old ish"..