2023, Eyes Forward

For many years, Steven and I have made time to do the things we really enjoy, like travel and photography. We have seen, more than once, where someone decided to do their “bucket list” after they retired, only to have significant heath problems, or even pass away shortly after retiring. We decided that you never know what the future holds and putting off traveling might not be in our best interest.

We have always loved exploring the areas near where we lived. When we moved to the coast of South Carolina, we spent a great deal of time checking out Charleston, Hilton Head, Savannah, and many of the quaint picturesque towns in between. When we moved to the outskirts of Charlotte, we did the same. This brought us close (within a few hours) to the beautiful mountains of North Carolina and its stunning Blue Ridge Parkway. We especially loved the charming town of Brevard, NC and would talk about how we would love to retire there.

Fast forward to summer of this year. We sold our home and contracted to build a home a few miles from Brevard. Steven and I stored nearly everything and moved into an apartment while the house was being built. Living in the mountains gave us the opportunity to shoot every day after Steven got off work and to get to know an area so much more than just occasionally visiting there. It was a true gift and it put to rest any questions we had about whether we would enjoy living here. Despite 0-degree temperatures on Christmas Eve, we love it.

Steven retired at the end of December and now we are full time “whatever we want to be”.

So, for 2023, eyes forward:

· to our house being finished hopefully by the end of January and getting all our things settled in the new house. Seven months of, “Oh! That’s in storage” is enough.

· to having family and friends come stay with us in this beautiful area.

· to having the time to go out and shoot whenever we want.

· to being able to spend more time with friends we have made over our years of coming up here.

· to getting involved with clubs and activities that we never had, or took, the time to do .

· to waking up every morning in this beautiful place that we love.