Forum members
You may have noticed that I've commented that we are moving from our home in Maryland. A few members have asked, so I'll share what's happening with my family.
12 years ago, my youngest graduated from college and got a teaching job in New Orleans. She met and married a great guy (10 years ago, yikes). They have two grand children, 3 and 7. Being grandparents changed our lives and we traveled frequently from Maryland to Louisiana. My daughter settled on the North Shore area (north of Lake Pontchartrain) in a small town (Covington). When my oldest daughters job went remote, she bought a home in the same town about four years ago. So, I guess it was inevitable we were bound for the the swamps...
My wife retired last week from the state of Maryland (Chief of Staff for three MD State Senators). I left my position as Director of Operations for Roy Rogers Restaurants last week, after 39 years. I was with Marriott owned Roy Rogers prior to that, and spend 44 years with the brand. I wore a lot of hats in the past two years and agreed to stay on in an consulting position for now.
We built our home here in Maryland 26 years ago, and live in a great neighborhood. We listed our house after the July 4th holiday and it sold in four days. My wife went down in late July to look for a home in Covington. We had close to 40 homes on our watch list, cut it down to 18 for her trip and came away with two options. Neither worked out and we ended up firing our real estate agent. We went with another recommended agent and she found a great home. We bought it based on her video review and my daughters assessment. That has created a bit of anxiety for my wife and we haven't slept much in the past three weeks. I need a big garage, we like a large patio and she wants a swimming pool there (has one here).
I shipped my MGB to my son-in-law's garage last weekend, it arrived safely and awaits us.
We started purging stuff from our home last summer, but have a full garage, full basement and large shed. Homes in Louisiana don't have basements. I'm still not certain how we're going to fit all we have (going from 2600 sq ft to 2300). I think a storage unit is in our future...
My oldest flew up last weekend, to help pack and do the drive. We settle tomorrow and then make the 18 hour drive to her own, until we settle on the new home, next week. Our household goods are on a moving van and will show up next Wednesday.
Tomorrow, it's me, the cat, my pipes, tobacco and bourbon in my Avalon, gravel bike on the rack. Daughter and wife will be in her pickup loaded with stuff we don't trust to the moving van.
I will get to reconnect with the New Orleans Pipe club, which has multiple members here, they are meeting in September and I look forward to meeting everyone again. We were there for the NOLA Pipe Show eight years ago and met several locals.
Dinner tonight with family and friends at a favorite crab joint. (we're crab people, haven't acclimated to crawfish)
I'll update later, wish us luck! And, go silent here for a few days.
You may have noticed that I've commented that we are moving from our home in Maryland. A few members have asked, so I'll share what's happening with my family.
12 years ago, my youngest graduated from college and got a teaching job in New Orleans. She met and married a great guy (10 years ago, yikes). They have two grand children, 3 and 7. Being grandparents changed our lives and we traveled frequently from Maryland to Louisiana. My daughter settled on the North Shore area (north of Lake Pontchartrain) in a small town (Covington). When my oldest daughters job went remote, she bought a home in the same town about four years ago. So, I guess it was inevitable we were bound for the the swamps...
My wife retired last week from the state of Maryland (Chief of Staff for three MD State Senators). I left my position as Director of Operations for Roy Rogers Restaurants last week, after 39 years. I was with Marriott owned Roy Rogers prior to that, and spend 44 years with the brand. I wore a lot of hats in the past two years and agreed to stay on in an consulting position for now.
We built our home here in Maryland 26 years ago, and live in a great neighborhood. We listed our house after the July 4th holiday and it sold in four days. My wife went down in late July to look for a home in Covington. We had close to 40 homes on our watch list, cut it down to 18 for her trip and came away with two options. Neither worked out and we ended up firing our real estate agent. We went with another recommended agent and she found a great home. We bought it based on her video review and my daughters assessment. That has created a bit of anxiety for my wife and we haven't slept much in the past three weeks. I need a big garage, we like a large patio and she wants a swimming pool there (has one here).
I shipped my MGB to my son-in-law's garage last weekend, it arrived safely and awaits us.
We started purging stuff from our home last summer, but have a full garage, full basement and large shed. Homes in Louisiana don't have basements. I'm still not certain how we're going to fit all we have (going from 2600 sq ft to 2300). I think a storage unit is in our future...
My oldest flew up last weekend, to help pack and do the drive. We settle tomorrow and then make the 18 hour drive to her own, until we settle on the new home, next week. Our household goods are on a moving van and will show up next Wednesday.
Tomorrow, it's me, the cat, my pipes, tobacco and bourbon in my Avalon, gravel bike on the rack. Daughter and wife will be in her pickup loaded with stuff we don't trust to the moving van.
I will get to reconnect with the New Orleans Pipe club, which has multiple members here, they are meeting in September and I look forward to meeting everyone again. We were there for the NOLA Pipe Show eight years ago and met several locals.
Dinner tonight with family and friends at a favorite crab joint. (we're crab people, haven't acclimated to crawfish)
I'll update later, wish us luck! And, go silent here for a few days.
