September 7, 2015
Final Thoughts: Part 2
The Big Picture…what’s next?
If you will recall, at the beginning of this trip report, I wrote that a big part of this trip was about “making Walt Disney World my own thing”, after my recent break-up with the person who led me to fall in love with this magical place. Thankfully, I was able to do exactly that. I made my own memories. I had so much fun, in spite of the few moments of sadness when something would remind me of our trips there together. But those moments were far and few between and did not last long. I enjoyed being there even more than I expected to and was very happy with how well I navigated it all by myself. I know these parks and I know them well. That is, in part, because of him. He was an excellent tour guide and teacher. But I’ve also learned a lot from the disboards and from the DIS Unplugged podcasts and the crew. I felt so comfortable there. As many often say, “it felt like home”.
An even bigger part of this trip was trying to decide if I could see myself living in Orlando. This idea started brewing back in February and it grew quickly into a new dream of mine. But I felt like I needed to go down there and explore Orlando beyond the gates of Walt Disney World. I have been looking online at apartments in the area for months now, but needed to see these areas in person. Needed to get a feel for neighborhoods and little towns. The internet is a great tool for relocation research and it gives you access to people who currently live there that you can ask questions as well…but I still think it’s important to see it for yourself. To decide for yourself what you think. I also felt like I needed to see what it would really be like to be in the parks by myself. That was a big part of wanting the AP…so that I could see what it was like to just go into the parks for a few hours in the evening or leave early without feeling like I was wasting money.
SO…after the trip I took a few weeks to process all of it and give myself time to think about it some more. I’ve talked about this to some degree throughout the trip report, but I’m so excited to officially say that
I have decided that I want to move to Florida!! It’s a little scary to say that! These last few weeks have been full of so much excitement, anxiety, doubts and just overwhelming thoughts and emotions. I lived in the same small town in Georgia for the first 18 years of my life. In the same house. Same school K-12. Then I moved to Alabama, only a couple of hours away, for college and stayed there for the last 17 years. So change isn’t something I have ever had to get very comfortable with. I’ve been able to go home and visit my family any time I have wanted. And it’s been so easy for them to come visit me at anytime too. And now I have a 7 month old nephew who I adore and I’m having a hard time imagining not seeing him very often. I think my parents will do a decent job of visiting me now and then. They will at least do so to visit my dog. They have made several comments about how much they will miss her and how they will need to visit her. (Gee…thanks Mom and Dad…feeling the love! Haha.) I know they will want to see me too though. And who doesn’t want their daughter to live near beaches? Ha. My brother and his wife might visit eventually, but not often. ( I mean, the kid will eventually HAVE to visit Mickey!) I’m hopeful they will keep me in the loop in my nephew’s life. I keep telling myself that it will all be ok. We will make it work. And I also keep telling myself that this doesn’t have to be forever. There is nothing that says that if I move there I have to stay forever. If it turns out to be way too hard for me to be so far from family, then I can always move back closer to them. Or I might move there and it be the best thing I have ever done and may stay there forever. You just never know. But that is something I really want to find out.
I’m pretty heartbroken over leaving the kids I have been a nanny for as well. 7 years is a long time to be such an integral part of a family and then leave. I’ve been talking to the kids about this for a while now. It was important to me that this not be a surprise to them and that it be something we could very openly talk about at any time. I wanted them to feel like they could be sad with me about it if they needed to, ask questions or whatever they wanted or needed. These kids are my world and I cry every single time I think about leaving them. BUT. The reality of it is, they are getting older. They are all in school now and during the school year my job becomes less than ideal to me. I mostly do laundry , grocery shopping, make their school lunches, run errands, pick-up from school and then drive around from activity to activity. I’m not complaining…because really I love doing all of these things because it means they get more quality time as a family. That is my job. Making their family life easier so the parents have more time with their kids and don’t have to worry so much about the things that tend to take over the evenings and the weekends. They both work and this way they get to have their careers and family time too. Saying I love these kids is the biggest understatement ever. It’s almost like I am an aunt or even a big sister sometimes. Or even like a 2nd Mom at times. The only thing keeping me sane with this part of all of this, is that I know that eventually the day will come when they wouldn’t need me anymore. And it scares me to stay and just wait for that day to come. I don’t want to be close 40 when that happens and then not know what to do next. And also it helps tremendously to know that this won’t be goodbye. I will still make every effort to see them from time to time. I will call them and send them letters and gifts for every birthday and Christmas. I will be there when each of them graduates from high school and college. I will be there when each of them gets married. And I will be there every time they visit Disney from now on.
They will forever be a part of my life and I will be a part of their lives, no matter where I live. Knowing that makes me think I can actually do this.
Another part of this is leaving Alabama. I’ve called this place home for almost half of my life. It’s crazy to imagine not living here. I feel like it is such a huge part of who I am. But at the same time, I’m not that overly attached to it. The 2 things I love most about my life there currently, are my church and this family. I’m confident though that I can find a similar church that I will love. And if not, my church streams their services live every week and posts everything on their website, so I can always keep up with all of that no matter where I am. I love other things about it too…like all the great places nearby for hiking. I think in Florida that is something you just call walking. Ha. But the millions of other things to do outdoors should outweigh not having actual mountains to hike up. I also love being not too far from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. I’m a huge Alabama football fan and love going to games and being right in the middle of all the news about the team. But again, thanks to technology, I can still stay pretty connected. AND I just realized recently that on September 1st, 2018, Alabama will open their season against Louisville IN ORLANDO! So I have that to look forward to.
And I can go anytime they play at the University of Florida or end up in a bowl game in Florida. So that will be ok. I have lots of friends around here, but most of them are married and have kids and have very busy lives. And we all keep up with each other, but I just don't see them that much. I can keep up with them from anywhere. My closest friends lives in various states across the country, so that will be no different than it is now.
So…I think I have worked through all of the things that would keep me from doing this. Haha. I know it may seem like I am way overthinking it all. But I just am not one of those people who can rush into decisions and hope it all works out for the best.
All of the exploring Orlando was a lot of fun. And even more than it just being fun, I felt really comfortable driving around the city. I didn’t look at a map or anything, I just drove and drove and drove. It’s a neat city with so much to offer. I checked out several apartment complexes and drove through a lot of areas. Saw a lot I really liked…Windermere, Celebration, Dr Phillips, parts of I-Drive are all so close to WDW. They are all kinda pricey too though. So will have to figure that part out. There are some other areas like Clermont, Davenport, Winter Haven…that all appeal to me too and have some less expensive options, but are slightly further away. Lots of time left though to figure that part out.
So what is the timeline for all of this?
Well, I am glad you asked.
This is currently my plan:
I will stay here through Christmas break of this year. My current lease runs out about that time. After that I will move to my hometown in Georgia for roughly 6-8 months. The only way I can see the move to Florida happening is if I can really seriously save some money for a few months first. So I am planning to live with my parents during that time. I won’t lie, that is going to be really hard after so many years living on my own. But it’s the only solution I can see and they will graciously let me live with them for a bit while I do this. It would be great to move to Orlando in January, but it just can’t happen. I hope to be in Orlando though by the middle of the summer. That would be ideal for me. At the very latest I am hoping for September. We will just have to see how that all works out!
As far as a job in Orlando, that is another big thing I decided recently. I definitely want to try to work for Walt Disney World! I had thought about that some, but wasn’t sure I really wanted to. On this trip though I realized what I would love to do there…I would LOVE to be a tour guide and think I could be a really good one. I realize it is unlikely that this is the job I would get immediately. But I’m willing to start out doing whatever and work my way up.
At this point, I am slowly starting to pack and make plans. Trying to decided what will go to Florida and what will go to Georgia. I'm planning to store everything going to Florida somewhere here until I'm ready to move. No sense paying so much to have it all moved twice. The kids know that this is really happening. There have been a lot of tears, but also a lot of great conversations about all of it. I think they truly understand (as much as they can) why I need to do this and that it is so hard for me to leave them. They know I am doing what I think is best for me and they seem to respect that. I hope that will be a good life lesson for them. Sometimes in life you have to do what is best for YOU, even if it's hard. Even if it hurts.
I'm slowly starting to tell people. I've gotten some interesting reactions. Most people are shocked that I would move so far away. And some associate me so closely with Alabama and my hometown, that they can't imagine me somewhere else. But mostly I have had so many people say "that is awesome" and "good for you" and "I wish I could do something so fun and adventurous like that...", so all of those comments are very encouraging.
So that brings all of you up to speed on my life! Thank you for allowing me to ramble on with my thoughts. It means so much to me that so many have followed this first attempt of mine at a trip report. I have really enjoyed writing the report and have enjoyed all of the comments so very much. I will most definitely be writing more of these in the future. I'm debating what to do for the life stuff that will be happening over the next year as I follow this new Disney dream. I would like to somehow document/share all of that. I'm just not sure if that needs to be in the form of a blog or if there is a good place on here for such a thread? I welcome any ideas about the best way to do that!! I would love to know what you all think!
One more part to come...a little preview of the next trip report.