When I bought my house in Raleigh in 2019, I didn’t expect to live here forever. Based on my track record, I figured I’d be moving again within a few years. It’s just what I do.
I’ve been here now for 6 ½ years. That’s the longest I have ever lived in one place.
What Is Different
I’m intimately familiar with my home, neighborhood, local stores, community, neighbors, traffic and services. It’s nice not to have to start over and figure everything out from scratch again .
I’ve become accustomed to the seasonal weather changes, school schedules, traffic patterns (and alternate routes), pool schedules, holidays and places to go dog walking.
I’m not the perpetual “new guy”. I’m the one who knows the lifeguards and when to expect the pool will be overcrowded. I’m the lucky homeowner who bought when home prices were lower instead of being at another all-time high. I’m the guy who remembers 7 former neighbors who used to live on my street – some for greener pastures and some who passed away.
For the first time in a very long time, I don’t feel like this is a temporary way station until I move again.
It’s no wonder that my identity is anchored to three things:
- Tamaqua – My tiny home town of 7,000 where I lived for my first 7 years surrounded by multiple generations of family that extended back to the 1800s. I knew everyone in town and everyone knew me and my family. Everyone went to school together, worked together, grew up together, lived together and died together.
- High School – The only school where I stayed for 4 years and completed a normal “full cycle”. It’s where I grew from a teen into into a man, fell in love for the first time, got skinny & fit after being a fat kid for years, established my identify and built a base of confidence and resilience that carried me through adulthood.
- Ellen – My wife. My rock. The love of my life who taught me how to be gentle, kind and caring. The woman who showed me the power of love and nurturing. She transformed my entire world and was often the only stable anchor in our hectic lives.
Those three have left lasting impressions that changed me forever.
But, aside from the memories and the lasting impressions, they are all chapters that are closed now.
The current chapter is growing my roots in one location.
It feels a lot like…home.