For the last six to eight months I have been working on several personal projects that have been stressful, physically exhausting and financially taxing. The biggest one was finding a new home closer to where my son would be going to High School in the fall.
When I originally moved down to Florida six years ago, I moved to the New Tampa area to live in a gated golf club community and be close to great schools. My thought was that I would land here and then see where my son would go for High School and I could then purchase a home close to his school and settle down for his four years.
However, over the last year the Real Estate Market in the Tampa Area has gone crazy. Prices on homes rose 17.2% from March of last year to March of this year, and April increased to 19.1% from April of last year. This is due to low inventory of homes for sale and the increased amount of people moving down to this area from other parts of the country. When homes do get listed they are scooped up within days and usually have multiple offers.
This demand has also affected the rental market for homes. There is a lower demand for rentals, as people are deciding to take advantage of the increase in home prices and sell their rentals. Or the homes that are available for rent have increased their monthly fee as well.
So buying at the high end or moving into a rental home until the market adjusts was my dilemma? As well as getting my son into the best High School for him.
We toured several private schools, we registered for the lottery to get into a premier Charter School, I signed him up to take the SSAT test for the private school entrance package and we filled out all the paperwork necessary to apply to a couple of schools.
But as with the Real Estate Market, getting into Private Schools in this area has gotten tougher and tougher. Over the last year 47,000 people have moved to our area from out of town and they want their kids to go to the best schools as well.
Where would my son end up for High School? Where would we move to? What house could we find and would it have all the amenities that I was looking for? Lots of questions that I was looking for answers to.
Then there are all the physical pieces that need to be done to pack up a whole house and get everything moved to a new location. While my son can help with packing up some of his items, all of the rest of the house fell to me pack and orchestrate!
In the meantime, I am working full time, my son is busy with 8th grade, I am driving him around as he plays Middle School basketball and gearing up to finish off all his classes.
Zack ended up getting accepted and chose the number one school on his list, we found a beautiful home on the lake with all the amenities that I was looking for, and the house is only miles away from his new school.
So we moved, and I pushed through my exhaustion to unpack most of the boxes and get us settled so that we could feel like we were home.
A pile of empty boxes kept accumulating in the garage as I was unpacking them throughout the house.
The week after we moved I was so exhausted I could barely get out of bed one day. I tried to get up several times to get work done, but then felt compelled to go back to bed to rest. My body was saying that enough was enough!!
I also had to mentally decide not to completely set up the whole house. It would be ok if every picture was not hung up, and if there were still boxes sitting in rooms around the house, that still needed to be unpacked. That would have to be ok. I had to listen to my body and take it easy.
I am one of those people that will keep going and going until I am burned out and knowing this I usually plan a vacation at the end of milestones, to make sure it forces me to rest. This milestone was no difference. I knew that the best choice for self-care was to unplug for days, let my mind rest, sit by the ocean and the pool to let me soul rest, and take care of healing myself.
The View from Our Room
This time I headed to the JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort with Zack for a much needed vacation. It was a three hour drive from home and seemed more like the Caribbean when we arrived.
During my stay I sat by the ocean and allowed the salty breezes to flow over my body. I ordered yummy cocktails from the drink truck on the beach and I just unplugged.
Then on our last day on Marco Island we were supposed to go on a sailing excursion and shelling tour, but it rained all day. As I lay in my room, relaxing under the soft comfy sheets, I realized the rain was a perfect excuse to book a massage at the Spa downstairs.
It had been 8 months since I had a massage and my body required some extra healing power to release all the stress and help me restore.
That choice for self-care was exactly what I needed. My aromatherapy, deep tissue massage with hot stones had my body vibrating when it was over. There was so much goop that needed to be released. After I was finished, I slowly made my way to their sauna, steam room and sat in the hot tub until my legs felt like jello.
I Enjoyed Wonderful Wine
Enjoyed Delicious Breakfast Buffet
I drank, ate and felt very merry spending quality time with my son, taking care of myself and gearing up for the next chapter in our life!
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