I always thought that I would stay in North Carolina forever. But, things change, and a series of decisions led me to art magnet school, to Baltimore for more art school, to marriage, to over 8 years spent living in Maryland. All those years, though, in the back of my mind, I always knew we’d return. Dan might have not known it. In fact, we flirted with the idea of settling down all over the world. When we lived in Takoma Park I imagined pulling our kids to the farmer’s market in a wagon. When he applied to jobs in Iceland and Hong Kong I thought about a life of skyping with family. When the seals in San Diego stole my heart, I weighed proximity to loved ones over the appeal of SEALS! It was a close call. In my heart, though, I always felt the pull.

I remember the exact moment Dan agreed that one day we would return to North Carolina to settle down and raise a family. We were in Rehoboth celebrating our first wedding anniversary. We had just finished dinner and stumbled down to the beach to sit and watch the ocean. With our toes in the sand we talked about our future and I confessed, nervously, that I wanted to make our home further south. And he agreed.

When we moved back to Baltimore, our intention was to be here for a while. We love this city (that hasn’t changed) and wanted to grow ourselves in a place that felt like home. But, these past months we’ve both been itching for a change and when it came time to ask the hard question– when does our future start– we didn’t have a good reason to delay. So, this month, we are packing up and moving to Wilmington, NC.

I know, Wilmington. For a long time we planned to move to Durham. While the coast, particularly Morehead, has always had appeal, we wanted a community that was open, progressive, and that had opportunities for those in the creative arts. Durham is one of the most amazing cities I know, but the more we thought and the more we listened to what our hearts were saying, the clearer it became that we were being pulled not to the piedmont, but to the ocean.

Dan has the amazing luxury of being able to work from anywhere, and in the upcoming weeks he’ll be getting his feet wet with a new company, developing the web. My future is still up in the air. I’m actually thrilled about the possibilities, I can choose any path that seems right. So, we’ll see. It’s terrifying, but I know that moving is the best decision we could make for ourselves, our family. In a few weeks we’ll pack our belongings up in the POD, go hang out at the beach for a week, and then move in to our new house in Wilmington in the beginning of November. I’d love to hear your suggestions, the Wilmington area is new to both of us, and we’ll need advice.