This has been such a stressful week for me and, I suppose, for Andy too.  It’s not all bad stress, but stress none-the-less.  In October, we were driving all over eastern Tennessee looking at houses.  My dream was a large piece of property in the rolling hills with views of the mountains. Andy was going along with me, but not so keen on the idea.  Here is the one that captured my heart:

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/169-Bearfield-Rd-Chuckey-TN-37641/42588297_zpid/

I mean, what is not to love there? Ten acres on a mountainside, part pasture and part forest? Actually, there were several things that made this impractical, all of which Andy calmly pointed out.  Unfortunately, he was absolutely right. We looked around some more, but nothing else moved me.

Then, while waiting here in Alliance Coach for a new window shade to arrive, we decided to look around in The Villages.  This must be the epitome of retirement communities.  It is huge.  There are 55 golf courses and thousands upon thousands of homes.  We probably looked at a dozen of them.  The first day, Tana took us to half a dozen.  They were lovely, just right, in fact.  But, the more we looked, the more stressed I became.  Too large, too small, too dark, too fancy, too ugly.  Nothing was just right.  After Tana dropped us off at the end of the day, we decided to run to the grocery store for some fruit for breakfast.  I don’t know what preceded it, but I started crying right in the produce section.  Andy was bewildered.

The next time we looked at six more houses, a bit larger and more expensive.  That night, my stomach growled and gurgled non-stop.  I was so churned up.  Then I realized that maybe I am not ready to settle down in a house yet.  I don’t want to give up the nomadic lifestyle.  I do want a house, though.  I want counter space in the kitchen.  I want a place to stow the vacuum cleaner.  I want a place for the paperwork and files. I want to hang my artwork on some walls. I want a real dining room table on which to eat dinner.

Our service advisor, Will, suggested that we look at Arlington Ridge, an active adult community, as they call them, in Williamsburg, Florida, not far away. It is nice.  The houses are much less expensive too. There are probably hundreds, if not thousands of these communities in Florida. They have a golf course, swimming pool, and clubhouse, etc.  This one has several floor plans that I like and within our price range.   I think Florida homes all look alike.

We are thinking about it.  It is still stressful.  Big decisions.  Life changes.  Aaarrgh!!!

The long-awaited window shade finally arrived.  It was the wrong one.  We decided to give up and head on down to the keys.  Will said they will ship us the new shade when it comes in.  So this is our last night in Wildwood. Now, rather than looking at houses, I can go back to being stressed over THE BOOK.