WRITTEN by JOHN MORRIS
Life just keeps getting better…
I’m no stranger to moving. As the son of a DuPont rising star, part of the drill was to pop around the country earning stars in each office – Georgia, Illinois, Connecticut – all before firmly landing in Wilmington, Delaware in 1969.
Ten years of security until the inevitable divorce that resulted in the house being sold. This was the first move I was responsible for. My brother Tommy conveniently disappeared on this one so big brother managed to move a huge house into a substantially smaller one.
Then I was off to college. Obviously, you change location on the campus yearly, but that is half the fun of college life. Two years in a fraternity was the highlight that made Animal House look like a Disney movie.
Graduation brought me back to Delaware, though briefly, as I landed a job in Massachusetts. From there I rented a house… bought a condo… and then finally a house.
The birth of my daughter changed my priorities to school districts so off we went again. The next house was perfect for quite a while until, as history usually repeats itself, the inevitable divorce forced its sale and again, I was on the road.
At this point in time, Barbara stepped into my life and pulled me out of the basement hell hole I was living in, to a lovely 18th century house in Newburyport, Massachusetts.
Lovely in the summer and autumn but a nightmare in the northeast winters.
Barbara is from the north of Italy where it gets quite cold, but not like this. In order to save her sanity and mine, we headed southbound to Delray Beach but once again, our stay was short-lived. Florida simply did not suit us.
My father used to call Florida the land of “newlyweds and nearly dead”… neither of which described us.
We had already discovered Roatan at this point and on one particular Sunday afternoon at Boston’s on the Beach in Delray, we both came to the same conclusion – Roatan or bust!
The move to the island was fairly easy but over the last nine years here, we have changed our residence five times, the most recent being this week. And it was a doozy!
I kept thinking, how in the heck did we accumulate so much stuff in just nine years? Sure, we brought a lot of things down originally, but really? Add to that two cats and two dogs. It was, to say the least, interesting.
As I sit here watching our zoo wander around trying figure out where the they are, it occurs to me that after all these years of moving, this time I got it right.
Of course Roatan is beautiful but what makes it really special is where you choose to live. The new house is gorgeous… on a spectacular lot… in a peaceful community with a short walk to the beach.
What else could you want? Oh yeah, a brewery within walking distance. Bam!
My father used to say home is where you hang your hat. Well, mine is hanging right here.
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