Yay! We left Manhattan for Florida! Wait, what?

(The following blog entry was originally posted on Blogger on 02/28/19)

We did it. We got ourselves moved. My wife and I are officially Floridians.

Thirty-one years of urban life in New York City now in the rear view mirror.

We landed safely at Tampa International Airport on July 31, 2018 at 11pm, with two big suitcases and two Pomeranians in tow. We got our mess of dogs and luggage to the curb and my brother pulled up to load us all in. Holy shit. It's real. We're no longer New Yorkers. We're hot and sweaty Floridians.

The July heat and humidity outside the airport hit us like a big invisible, moist wave.

We arrived at our new home around midnight. A bottle of prosecco and a bottle of bourbon on a small table confirmed our arrival, thanks to my loving family. A big paper WELCOME HOME sign and balloons was strung over the living room windows, adoringly made by my sister-in-law and nieces. My mom had set a table for two. It was all very sweet and it made us feel truly welcome.

It would take us a couple months to mentally accept the reality of it — that we don't have an Upper West Side Manhattan lifestyle anymore. We will need to become car people. And attend monthly HOA meetings. And go to a grocery store to buy food! (Fresh Direct had become my most valued assistant in NYC). We no longer walk our dogs in Central Park twice a day. A mild case of PTSD was presenting itself.

There would home furnishings to buy (we'd sold all our furniture in NYC by the time we left). Then there's a car to buy. The last time I owned a car was 1989, and my wife had a 'bitchin Dihatsu' for a while when she lived in Santa Fe a long time ago. Aside from that, we'd both been city dwellers without a need for a car.

Once we got ourselves situated, I rented a car for a week and we began looking around for something to buy. We lucked into a 2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid SE that was for sale right across the road from our condo complex. We both said WTF is a Ford C-Max? but learned it was quite the nice little car that Ford made to compete with the Prius. Anyway, it was in great condition, we made a lowball offer to the car dealer, which he accepted, then got the ball rolling. Car insurance. Transfer of driver's licenses. Locating the local gas stations, tire stores, oil change businesses, yada yada yada.

Then we started into the rehab and repair work of my condo unit. We redid the floors with tile planks and new carpeting, and replaced old baseboard with new while moving around boxes of our stuff a dozen times. Lots of stress and fatigue from it all, but worth it.

On many levels life got easier after escaping from New York. As you could imagine, our cost of living went down dramatically in the first month. Just for comparison — our monthly rent in Manhattan was equal to our total cost of living in our new condo. Let that sink in.

So after money months of turning an empty condo into a home, we planned a return trip to NYC in November, but on the day of our schedule flight, one of our dogs, Parker, was presenting some odd behavior so I took him to the vet for an exam. Results show he'd somehow managed to compress vertabrae in his neck and spine. He probably chased a toy and smacked into a wall or door. Trip cancelled. His rehab would take a 6 weeks.

Then in January 2019, the other Pomeranian, Penny, was limping noticeably. One day on a walk she went to chase Parker and then just yelped and sat down. I knew right away something was bad. Off to the vet we go. X-rays and an exam showed she'd completely torn the ACL in her right knee. We got her into surgery that afternoon and a 12-week rehab program ensued. Good times.

February was marked by my mom having a worrisome episode in her chest area that turned out to be a false positive for a heart blockage. Scrambling to care for pets and people made for a "fun" couple days. We all celebrated my birthday with family at one of our favorite restaurants on Clearwater Beach called Palm Pavillion. Great food, great atmosphere, comfortable temperatures, and quality time with my wife, brother, sister-in-law, and my mom.

And now here it is almost March, 2019. We're still doing home upgrades. Penny is getting better little by little. Our belongings have been completely unboxed and stowed in a proper place. We turned the extra small bedroom into my home office and all my graphic design tech. And so it goes ... we adapt and fiddle and try to make life livable.

I'm finding some freelance work and looking for more. I've also applied to probably 20 open positions for Creative Directors, but I'm not holding my breath that I'll get a call back.

For the past 6 months I've been involved in a local business networking group called TechRoots in the St. Petersburg area. I've gotten a chance to meet some really motivated, self-employed people who are doing interesting things. We meet bi-weekly, and usually at some cool spot in St. Pete. The downtown area is really growing rapidly, and seems like it's becoming the home to more tech startups and small businesses. I also re-joined AIGA's Tampa Bay chapter and I hope to get more involved with their activities on the Tampa side of the area.

I've reconnected with some graphic design school colleagues who still live in the area and we plan to have a mini reunion this weekend over dinner. This will be so much fun. One of the guys I haven't seen in over 30 years!

As soon as the Gulf of Mexico warms up this summer we'll start to get our dogs out to the nearby pet beach at Honeymoon Island Park on a more frequent basis. It's a great place to decompress and enjoy the sunset — not to mention let the dogs romp around and get their energy spent.

So, we're finding ways to keep life interesting and fulfilling here. It's not the city by any stretch, but we have a little garden area and a patio for sitting outside on cool evenings. I can even have a cigar and a cocktail without having to go somewhere to do it.

And I can debate with myself, or my wife, or friends, whether or not this lifestyle beats our Manhattan adult playground. It probably does, but we both miss The City terribly. It's a loud, crazy, expensive place and yet I “made it” there. I guess I can make it here, or anywhere.