Savannah or Bust!

In the spring of 2010 my husband Paul and I visited Savannah, Georgia for the first time. We were newly engaged and excited to take our first real vacation together. We fell in love with this city instantly! For the remainder of our vacation we asked “how do we get here”?
Three years later we moved to Savannah for good. When I look back on the passage of time three years seems like such a short time. What I learned in those three years is that a lot can happen both good and bad to get us to where we want to be. The important thing is to enjoy the journey while finding your way “home”.
Paul and I were happily married in September 2010 and for a short time lived in his house in Townsend, Massachusetts. I loved my job as a library director in Hollis, New Hampshire but our desire for a new life in a warmer climate led to searching for a job in the south. Savannah was decidedly on our minds but at this time there were no jobs available and we were eager to escape winter. We made our way south with a brief two year stopover in North Carolina. I started a job managing three libraries in Greenville, North Carolina as Paul began working from home. Ironically our first house purchased together was in a neighborhood called “Savannah Place”. Maybe this was the “Savannah” we were destined to be in.
Shortly after our move to North Carolina we suffered a tragic loss when Paul’s beloved daughter, Brynne, passed away in March 2011. We were reeling both physically and emotionally and definitely were not where we wanted to be. I should have learned by now that life always throw in a few unexpected curveballs. This Pollyanna rarely takes off the rose colored glasses and is sometimes blindsided when things don’t go according to plan. A journey is supposed to be adventurous, exciting, and new. The bad and the ugly are never part of the “good” plan. Yet every experience shapes our direction and leads us to where we need to be. We somehow manage to put one foot in front of the other, find comfort in the family and friends we love, and continue on the road of life.
Despite the fact that we had good friends and family in North Carolina there was something missing. We weren’t close to a city or the beach. There wasn’t an abundance of good restaurants or entertainment venues around. We weren’t as close to our aging parents as we would have liked. My job wasn’t as challenging or rewarding as I would have hoped. We felt stuck. Why stay? Time to change course and look towards Savannah again.  All we had to do was figure out how to get there! Time to put those rosy glasses back on and head out the door for our next big adventure.