This famous phrase from L. Frank Baum's "The Wizard of Oz" pretty much sums up the events leading to our recent move to North Carolina. At this time last year, I could not have predicted the ups and downs and twists and turns that led us to our current home in the mountains. Although our home and bodies didn't get taken up into the sky by a cyclone, it sure felt like it at times.
A view from our deck
A rather abrupt change of employment for Tom resulting from the company he worked for basically imploding, caused us to do some quick decision making as to our future. Since our plan was never to stay in New Jersey indefinitely, Tom felt he should continue to send out resumes while simultaneously getting the house ready to sell and we would go with whatever came first. I think I could write a book about all of the events that followed, but in a nutshell, here goes: The house goes on the market, less than two months later we get a cash offer. Great! Not so great is that our buyers wanted a thirty day close. Mad dash to start to pack non-breakable items, moving company to pack the rest. Brakes put on when septic inspection reveals we need a new septic system. Good news is that we had a great engineering firm and excavators and I got to play on one of the big rigs!
The weather and the fact that our excavators were backed up (so to speak) with work, gave us a chance to bring the contents of the studio (minus the 4,800 lbs. of looms that the movers were to transport) to a self storage unit in Asheville. A week later we travelled back to NC to look for a house, with the caveat that there be a space for the business. Low and behold, on the third day, the last house we saw, was the one on which we made an offer. Long story short, great house, great views, and more than enough room for the looms and the contents of my previous studio.
I can't say any of this was easy, and at times (more times than I or Tom care to remember!) I wasn't sure I had it in me. What I do know, and what I truly believe, is that this is where we were meant to be, and as Dorothy said "there's no place like home."
