Moving to Idaho

Our move to Idaho happened in a surprising way. We had been doing a year of research on places to retire. We had visited several different states and areas, including Boise. During our time in Boise, we saw several homes with a realtor, including one we really liked that wasn’t on the market. Our realtor explained we could see the home even though it had an offer, to get an idea of that type of floor plan, and to see that neighborhood. That home was our favorite of all the homes we saw.

We returned to California and resumed our routines. We liked Boise and thought of it as a possible place to live, sometime in the future. We had been home two weeks when our realtor called. The house we really liked, the one that was our favorite, was back on the market. The buyer had pulled out. We had a decision to make, one that would change our lives. Would we make an offer, and leave Pittsburg, California? Or would we wait, and make another trip to Boise in a few months and see other houses? After just a few minutes, we called our realtor back. We made an offer, it was accepted, and a few weeks later our house in California sold and we prepared to move.

What allowed us to make a major decision so quickly? We went with our gut. We liked the house, felt good about the area, and felt ready to move. We had done our research and laid the groundwork for a move to another place. It also helped that we had moved before, from Connecticut to Maryland, and from Maryland to California. We had thrived in each place and enjoyed experiencing each area of the country. We were ready for a new adventure. We did not have decision paralysis because we were ready to act.

We’ve lived in that house for four years now. Our readiness to act and our willingness to be open to new experiences has marked our time here. Change brings new choices that can create uncertainty. It is hard to start over and make new connections. But our practice of openness has helped a lot, and it is a practice. We have new routines and new experiences and new friends here because of this openness. We couldn’t rely on our old routines or old experiences – we left those behind when we left California.

Sometimes we operate on autopilot and close ourselves off from openness. We stay closed off in our routines and our ways of doing things. It can be easy to isolate especially now when we can’t be in community in the ways we are used to. Openness may lead to a new path, a new way of doing things. Openness may create community in new ways. Openness can bring creativity and innovation and new life.