Dear Maria,
Greetings! From a bit further, oh let’s call it
north-northwest by my reckoning. Appreciated the card and even more the kind
words. Several others were of your mind that I seemed anchored to the
Charleston area despite my raising the notion of moving in this direction last
year.
Just before I found this property, I heard myself say out loud
that life for me was “more about preservation than exploration”. I know, I
know. Chew those words up and spit them out. A few weeks later I was stomping
around outside here at the new place for the first time, and 48 hours later the contract was
signed.
Sometimes you have to yank the tablecloth off the
table—dishes, too.
Of course, my sister’s branch of the family—or more
accurately, pretty much an entire tree—has been suggesting the time for this
move was due, and I was of the mind that there would be a Yes in due time. So
far in a week 20 of the 31 have come out. When I say out, I mean no more than
25-35 minutes.
Sorry we missed each other the last time you were in town on
what I named the Meet for Lunch Farewell Tour. Would have taken a year to hit
all the spots to my taste in the Charleston area food-wise, and the tour really
ended more a whimper, less a bang. Not that it was all about the food. No.
Really. But as with any move, all suddenly picked up pace and the next thing I
knew I was having to accept that I would not get in all the goodbyes as I would
have wished.
As for Max, he spent the first 4 days here going to the front
door and looking back at me—despite his toys tossed about the living room, his
quilt behind my big recliner, his food and water dishes on the floor at the end
of the bar. Then, morning 5, he strutted around the backyard, announced himself
to the surrounding pack by barking with a bit of fur up, and trotted with much purpose
the inside perimeter of the fence. Guess he lives here now.
As for me, settling in slowly—my desk, my bed, my chair, my
coffeemaker, etc. What I do know is that often I will have a thought that
connects me to one of my friends left behind, the kind to be shared
face-to-face and then the natural flow of conversation that goes from there.
Always the case, I have found, with any place that it’s the people, the
camaraderie, the friendships. I will miss many, no doubt.
Turns out that I do know several folks from back in the locale
who live around these parts now. Up here. Uphill. Upstate. Wait until I send
you a picture of snow—then you’ll believe I’m not in the Ladson Metro anymore.
Lyman Metro?
Be good, be well, behave. A bit foolish as a sentiment. But
you know the rest. May you and your family be blessed. Come see me.
Always, srk
