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| Um....not this one. |
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| Just about HALF of my massive garden. (All rocks dug and placed by yours truly.) |
So, is it traveling when you're looking for that place you will eventually call home?
Showing posts with label North Carolina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label North Carolina. Show all posts
Saturday, January 9, 2016
Is This Traveling?
Is it still traveling if you are away from home searching for a home? I'm currently staying in Wilmington, NC (aka "The Hollywood of the East" - since I have some experience character acting, that nickname was partially responsible for my choice). Of course, I'm checking out the sights, but what I'm really looking for reads like a Match.com list for Realtor.com.
Let me preface this by saying I'm being run out of my own state. Not by the people, no. I get along fine with most of my neighbors (with the exception of one household, the owner of which I have nicknamed "Breaking Bad"). It's the taxes (my sister is paying around $12K for a home that would go for around $250K or less here in NC), the insurance costs (house/car/medical = all high), the cold, the back-breaking snow shoveling, the twenty-one bags of leaves that constituted ONE bout with autumn last year, and finally - my bad here - the twenty-seven raised beds and six level waterfall I personally built with my bare hands on a steep, rocky hill over the space of ten+ years that I love but no longer want to spend time keeping in Better Homes and Gardens condition.
So the epic journey begins. Again. I've been considering a move for years. California. Costa Rica. Oregon. Love them all but the distance from family gives me pause. "Do I belong here?" is the question that has been at the back of my mind in many of my travels. I tick off the laundry list of things that make me comfortable and happy. But, once again, the thought is at the forefront and the list is on paper and includes "fenced in yard".
So, is it traveling when you're looking for that place you will eventually call home?
So, is it traveling when you're looking for that place you will eventually call home?
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Mermania!
I believe there comes a time in everyone's life where they are faced with a question: Do I continue to do the fun things that everyone around me is saying I'm too old for or do I ignore the naysayers and continue enjoying myself?
This could apply to anything from hairstyle (too long, purple, whatever) to a particular activity (comic books, video games, Star Trek conventions, etc.) or sport you like to participate in (Mom! Grandpa took my skateboard again!)
This past weekend I attended Mermania 2016, a mermaid convention in Greensboro, North Carolina. A what? Yes, a mermaid convention in which I dressed as a mermaid, swam with mermaids (both professional and non), talked/sang/played/danced and hugged with mermaids.
The pool was too cold for me to swim much (I have cold-induced urticaria - a literal allergy to cooler temperatures) but I was surrounded by so much warmth it didn't matter. It was one of the best weekends I've had in a very long time.
Wait. How old are you?, you might ask. This blog is admittedly written by a senior. Yeah. I guess. But it hurts to admit to the chronology when my soul has somehow - through child-raising, hardships, bouts of depression, responsible home ownership, a stable career and a credit score over 800 - retained so much of the child within.
Perhaps this is what has kept me going all these years. I don't have much truck with Muggles. My home was always open to D&D games. I read and write fantasy novels. I enjoy sci-fi, fairies, the Renn Faire, and dressing up for LOTR and Star Wars movies. I own Star Trek and Tinkerbell pajamas. I've attended Who Con, sci-fi cons, Comicon, and Harry Potter weekends. But by far my favorite was/is Mermania.
I wasn't the only young soul in attendance. Merfolk come in all ages, sizes, shapes, colors, genders, and sexual preferences. None of it matters. We are all together, tailed and glittering.
The fact is, I believe that none of this matters IN LIFE. But when we walk the streets in our various and sundry "real faces" it's less easy to recognize that we are all one. We focus on our differences "out there".
If only we could look at the world as one big "Human Con" we might enjoy more of the love, respect, and camaraderie that I enjoyed this weekend in pink wig, seashells, glitter, and tail. Proud to be a "Mermom".
This could apply to anything from hairstyle (too long, purple, whatever) to a particular activity (comic books, video games, Star Trek conventions, etc.) or sport you like to participate in (Mom! Grandpa took my skateboard again!)
This past weekend I attended Mermania 2016, a mermaid convention in Greensboro, North Carolina. A what? Yes, a mermaid convention in which I dressed as a mermaid, swam with mermaids (both professional and non), talked/sang/played/danced and hugged with mermaids.
The pool was too cold for me to swim much (I have cold-induced urticaria - a literal allergy to cooler temperatures) but I was surrounded by so much warmth it didn't matter. It was one of the best weekends I've had in a very long time.
Wait. How old are you?, you might ask. This blog is admittedly written by a senior. Yeah. I guess. But it hurts to admit to the chronology when my soul has somehow - through child-raising, hardships, bouts of depression, responsible home ownership, a stable career and a credit score over 800 - retained so much of the child within.
Perhaps this is what has kept me going all these years. I don't have much truck with Muggles. My home was always open to D&D games. I read and write fantasy novels. I enjoy sci-fi, fairies, the Renn Faire, and dressing up for LOTR and Star Wars movies. I own Star Trek and Tinkerbell pajamas. I've attended Who Con, sci-fi cons, Comicon, and Harry Potter weekends. But by far my favorite was/is Mermania.
I wasn't the only young soul in attendance. Merfolk come in all ages, sizes, shapes, colors, genders, and sexual preferences. None of it matters. We are all together, tailed and glittering.
The fact is, I believe that none of this matters IN LIFE. But when we walk the streets in our various and sundry "real faces" it's less easy to recognize that we are all one. We focus on our differences "out there".
If only we could look at the world as one big "Human Con" we might enjoy more of the love, respect, and camaraderie that I enjoyed this weekend in pink wig, seashells, glitter, and tail. Proud to be a "Mermom".
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