Career Path

Since Carmen and I got married, I have worked one career more consistently than all of the others, and that has been relocating and setting up housekeeping. We were married in September of '86. We moved twice in '87, once in '89, once in '96, once in '05, once in '06, once in '09, once in '010, twice in '015 and now we are in the middle of what we once again hope will be our last move, our fifth interstate move.

Back in the summer, when Carmen was in Florida visiting her gaggle of girlfriends, I was becoming grumpy (well, grumpier than usual) because I had not had an actual vacation since the Alaska trip in '01. Every "vacation" since then had been dealing with my dying brother, helping my aging parents or, dare I say, MOVING! So, I did what I do best: I wrote a letter to Carmen telling her how I felt and asking for some fun time off. So we began planning a Thanksgiving week vacation to St. Augustine Beach, where we could relax with no responsibilities and visit with our friends. We even invited our friend Rose to have Thanksgiving dinner with us.

As time wore on, while we were anticipating our fun getaway, we began to see things in a different light. It occurred to us that pretty much all of our friends are in Florida. We are aging ourselves, and have no children to help us when we need it. It suddenly made sense to think about moving again, this time not for work or school or family reasons, but for us, for our happiness and security. I won't go into the details of the long drawn-out process, but will cut to the quick: we bought a condominium in Mandarin, an area in the southeast corner of Jacksonville. When we went down for our vacation, I drove the first truckload of stuff.  We spent several extra nights in our "new" condo.

This morning, while walking the dog (another career path) I was thinking about all the work ahead of me at this end to get ready to move, and the huge amount of work ahead of me in Jacksonville before Carmen comes down after her 90-day notice is up. Nearly every move has been this way. If nothing else, I have installed ceiling fans and blinds in every place we've owned. The bookcase beside me here is the fourth of six major bookcases I've built in three states. I totally renovated the kitchen here, as well as major upgrades to doors, cabinets, plumbing fixtures, light fixtures and closet systems throughout. Hell, in Meadville, we bought a 3/2 and moved into a 2/1. I started out life in that house by finishing the interiors of the closet and bathroom, framed out and abandoned by the previous owner. And I won't even go into the long list of projects facing me in Mandarin.

If we were thirty years younger, we would be flipping houses and drowning in cash. But we're not. My arthritis, tremors and carpal tunnel are there every step of the way, reminding me of why I retired at 62 and only work on houses in which we live. It's not a career I chose, but it is a career from which I can't seem to retire. But I hope it slacks off some once we're settled in. And I hope to go fishing!