Transplanting is possible with the right frame of mind

Not many people have a chance for a do-over.

But my husband and I did when we decided to move close to our kids and grandchildren. Was it scary? Yes! We were moving from everything that made us feel safe: our friends, our lovely home, our city of nearly 40 years. And while I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone, it’s worked for us—one of the reasons being the willingness to take chances. Sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and plunge in.  

We weren’t too happy about our initial living arrangements: an apartment in a complex on the third floor with no elevator. During the year we were there, I thought I’d get used to climbing those three floors. I didn’t. And I never, ever got used to the people below us who complained to management about our noise. We are, let us say, at an age at which you hear no peeps out of us after 9 p.m., so I found it particularly off-putting when leaving the apartment to encounter the “lady”—she was no lady!—downstairs who accompanied me to the parking lot, all the while cussing at me.

My husband initially thought of the move as temporary: just until covid ended. But in his frequent monthly travels back to the house to check on it, he came to the conclusion that making the move permanent made the most sense. He had retired, and our kids—fortunately, both of them lived in the same city!—and the little ones needed us.

So we sold our house and started looking for another.

Luckily for us, our home went for $30,000 more than the asking price; in fact, we had seven offers in four days. Unluckily for us, we moved from a place with a low cost-of-living to a higher cost-of-living. And it was at a time when it was definitely a sellers’ market.

At first, I thought I wanted to live in downtown Greenville. It’s lovely, so walkable, and very vibrant. The trouble was that many of the houses in our price range were small, ugly, and without any redeeming features. So we looked within a few miles of downtown. We encountered pretty much the same thing. They were a little more affordable but equally ugly. And they were sorely missing two things I wanted: ranch-style living and a walkable neighborhood.

So we looked even farther afield. Our realtor suggested a particular area in a nearby city, a quiet neighborhood that has big lots, an enormous number of large trees, a variety of different styles of houses, and is located within walking distance of lots of cool restaurants and shops. But I was the one who actually found the house. I got on the neighborhood’s Facebook page and posted a request for knowledge of any sales. My future neighbor kindly posted that the house next to her was being prepped for sale. The rest is history.

The house was truly a dump, but that story’s for another day.