Going Coastal!

I suppose it’s not every day you tell someone that you’re quitting your job, leaving the only world you’ve known for the last 30 years, and risking everything to move to a tropical island. 

I first fell in love with Sanibel Island when I was 3 years old.  When I was a little bit older and could comprehend that a person could live anywhere they chose, I realized I wanted to live by the beach.  I have spent my whole life trying to fill the void that is there when I am not near the ocean.  I used to pretend that my uncle’s beach house was our house every time we’d visit; lying in bed at night wondering what it would be like to wake up every morning knowing the beach was right there.  When we moved to our new house when I was in high school, I put up a full wall mural of the beach right next to my bed, because that was as close as I’d ever actually get to waking up on the beach.  In my late teens and early 20s, I spent just about every weekend at the Jersey Shore, a 6 hour round trip drive.  I didn’t care about the time spent driving or the gas money; I did what I needed to do to be near the ocean. 

I figured that once I was older and married my compulsive desire to be near saltwater would wane.  I don’t know, maybe I thought my ocean obsession was a phase.  What happened was quite the opposite. I became infatuated all over again with Sanibel, doing anything to get there at least once a year.  Our entire apartment became homage to the sweet little island; “Sanibel North” if you will.  We spent so much money in airfare and hotels, we joked it would be cheaper to just move there.  Then one day, we weren’t joking anymore.

The hardest part by far has been announcing our plans to everyone.  Even though anyone who has ever met us knows that this was our dream, I guess nobody really expected it to actually happen.  My parents will probably never speak to me again.  Some of our friends have already begun treating us differently and saying things like “Everyone is leaving me.” And that’s when it hit me; very few people have just been genuinely happy for us.  It always comes back to “how will this affect me?” We as people have become so selfish and self-centered that all we can think of is ourselves.  Yes, perhaps you could call our move to the south selfish too.  I’ll admit it; it is.  I want to live out my dream before I’m too old, too disabled, too lonely or too sick to enjoy it. If wanting to be genuinely, truly happy is selfish, then so be it.  (End rant—sorry!)

For the most part, everyone that we’ve told is fairly happy for us, or at least good at pretending to be.   We seem to be getting “good for you” a lot. Most of the time it doesn’t even seem real as the words leave my mouth. Then I think, “HOLY CRAP WE OWN A HOME ON SANIBEL!”  We’ll be downsizing like mad and having a few yard sales.  It will be hard to say goodbye to the fish tank and fish we’ve had for years, and our vintage record player, and the antique dresser I lovingly spruced up last year.  But when you get down to it, it’s only stuff.  I want to live a life full of happiness and memories, not one that is centered around the things I own.

We plan to come back and visit family frequently, as Allegiant flies into the airport by home.  As a bonus, Allegiant also flies into Des Moines, where the rest of hubby’s family is.  And I realize that life isn’t going to turn into one big vacation just because we’ll be living on an island.  I have realistic expectations of our new life. Yes, we will have jobs and won’t be able to spend every waking moment on the beach.  But knowing that when I get home I’ll only be a 5-minute bike ride from the ocean will make any job more bearable. 

Are we crazy? Possibly.  Selfish? Probably.  Are we completely thrilled to live our dream? You bet. We might be a lot of things, but what we are for sure is lucky.  We had to go through some pretty awful stuff to get to where we are now.  We’re not rich by any means and we still put our flips flops on one foot at a time like everyone else.

I know not everyone will understand our decision, and I don’t expect them to.  I just refuse to sit back and watch life pass me by because I’m living the life someone else wants for me. 

I am overjoyed that in a few months, once things are wrapped up at work and we’re packed and ready to go, that we will be following our dream.  It hasn’t been an easy road to get here, and when I think of what we had to go though, it brings a tear to my eye knowing that we could turn a really bad thing into an amazingly good thing.  Dreams do come true, just not always in the way you expected them to.

And now, may I present to you... our glorious little yellow beach cottage! 

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