Life and Island Times June 27 2016 – More Loose Ends
W and Marlow had been working to keep several loose ends from further fraying during the past twenty months. They knew that living on their isolated coral rock island was a risk. Their concern wasn’t the seasonal hurricanes that buffeted the island.
The risks they focused on were the stealthy ones that most people don’t see and plan for until the hazard is upon them. They saw their risks as aging and ill family members on the mainland and their own inevitable and growing need for specialty health care as they aged.
Despite modern jet travel’s availability to and from the island in 2005, it still took an average of twelve hours to get anywhere on the mainland when a family emergency popped up. Even though the Keys have three hospitals and a myriad of specially care doctors and treatment facilities, this island chain is so medically deprived that insurance companies and Medicare provide supplementary payment to providers to locate and treat patients there. Telemedicine with mainland specialists remained a distant promise. It was as if the Keys were a farm community in the desolate outreaches of northern Montana.
These risks were unacceptable given their experiences with personal and family health issues during the past five years.
Initially in late 2013 they made lists of likely relocation areas that would be ready for them when the need arose. The list included cities along the coasts of Florida, Georgia and Virginia spanning 1200 miles. In 2014 they began visiting and assessing the candidates. They felt no rush.
After two years of looking they had crossed off four of the five contenders for either being too remote, too boring, too urban, too rural and/or too cold.
The last one was Savannah, Georgia. When they visited it late this past April, the loving tendrils of their sweet island had them firmly in their grasp. Consequently, they were looking for an apartment that they could renovate and inhabit during these times of crisis.
Like several of the other aspirants, it had all the niceties of modern American urban life – youthful and creative vibe, history and mystery, and superb shopping, dining and entertainment. It was graded out second in excellent healthcare system and reliably short transportation times to family members.
It was no surprise to them when they found as with the other cities (save for Old Town Alexandria, Virginia), Savannah real estate was cheaper. What surprised them was the confluence of positive factors with Savannah’s overwhelming charm.
They looked at lots of properties and quickly dropped the idea of a second place This was happening faster than they thought possible. Almost like a teenage first love swoon.
They came back to Key West, put their place on the market in May and made an offer on a 135 year Victorian house off of Forsyth Park. In less than two months, contracts were signed, contingencies made and removed, loans and insurance acquired.
Home
It all became concrete and final in their hearts and minds when their Key West real estate agent told them this Monday to start packing.
Securing these loose ends, however, meant encountering another one that Marlow deals with very poorly – saying goodbyes.
They’re going to a new home. They’ll think of some way to tie up these loose ends. After all . . . tomorrow is another day.
Copyright © 2016 From My Isle Seat