MOVING TO MARSHALL
On Wednesday I went to an Open House in Capitola Mill in Marshall to the apartment of Trish, a friend of my wife Kathe and my daughter Susie. The people were so friendly, the apartment was so beautiful, the walk across the French Broad River where in April there will again be restaurants and a grocery store and people out on the street is so short that I decided that I would move to Capitola Mill. I got very excited and so did Susie. Living in Marshall in Capitola Mill was going to be great fun. The next day I wrote to Pete Whitlock, the developer, who renovated and supervises Capitola Mill, which used to be a cotton mill, part of the network of textile mills all across North Carolina, now all departed to China, telling him my plan.
I was ready to pack up and move until people began to prick my bubble and pop my dreams.
To move I would have to rent my present house for the same amount as an apartment at Capitola Mill would cost in order to afford to move, to rent my house I would have to rebuild the deck, to stop the leak in the bathroom, to fix the rotting windows off the carport, to get the drains to drain more quickly, to fix the sockets in the kitchen that had stopped working, to remove Helene debris from the yard, to get renter’s insurance . . . and to find the money to pay for all of this by begging my financial advisor to give me some of my retirement money while not bankrupting me. I had no idea how I was going to do any of this.
But before I could fix the house (if I could find a way to pay for it) I would have to clear a life time of stored stuff, mine and Kathe’s and even stuff belonging to my parents, out of the house including a huge number of books and outdated digital equipment and a number of yard sale finds. All of this has to be sorted through and then either found a home for or taken to Goodwill or to the dump.
All of this would have to be done immediately. But immediately I have a flight booked to San Miguel de Allende in central Mexico in 8 days and an Airbnb reserved and friends I am going to stay with for a month. I won’t be back for a month.
What happens to my dream of moving that would be so simple if I didn’t have to worry (or do) any of this?
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 