Packing Up, Little Deaths, Letting Go
5 of 55 packed boxes My husband Sam and I started planning for this move almost four years ago when we decided that where we live now (and have lived for the past 12 years) was not where we would retire. At that time we had no more specific location other than somewhere in Florida, which we've both taken to like fish to water. So when I began doing some work 88 miles north of here, we wondered together if Sarasota might be an option for the move that has been in the back of our minds. In reality we tried not to make this decision quite yet. I spent the better part of July and August looking at options for renting for a year or so to 'try it out.' But our immediate family includes two dogs which the rental community frowned upon again and again. If we liked a location, they wouldn't accept the dogs. And if they accepted them, we didn't want to live there! The day finally came when we looked at one another and said, let'