Pure Dumb Luck

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Randy and I moved a lot in our marriage.  I made a list not long ago and counted 18 change of residences in our 49 years.  In a lot of those places, we didn’t consider how the home’s location or features would affect our quality of life.  Surely, we wanted to be relatively close to where we worked, in safe neighborhoods, and have adequate room, but we didn’t think much beyond those factors.  We knew many of them, like when we were in the Air Force, would be temporary.  For most of our married life we weren’t looking for forever homes. 

In those 49 years, 15 of those 18 moves took place in the first 25 years we were married.  Then, in 1999, we bought a house in Camdenton, Missouri that we lived in until 2018.  That’s the one that was destroyed and rebuilt in the tornado in 2003.  I loved that house, more after the tornado than before, but only because when we rebuilt it we got to choose the wallpaper. We only considered moving from that house because the two-story living got to be harder as we aged.  And we wanted to downsize. 

We kept our eyes open for 3 years for a smaller, one level house to grow old in.  One day our realtor called us to look at a house he thought we’d like.  We fell in love with the location and setting of that house. Without much more thought we made an offer for it on the spot even though it was not one story, and we were definitely not downsizing.  The property was spectacular though.  We only owned it and lived there for 3 years, but it ended up being an excellent financial decision. Pure Dumb Luck.

Those last 3 years we lived in Missouri in that house were the years Randy and I retired.  We thought, when we bought that house and property we called Grathland, it really was going to be our forever home. Moving again wasn’t on our radar in any way, shape, or form.

Now that we were retired though, we began to travel.  We had a lot of pent up travel in us.  In the first two years of retirement we visited Florida 4 times.  On the way back from a 2-week stay in a house in the Keys (which I earned in exchange for some accounting work I did) in March 2021 we stopped to visit some Air Force friends we’d known for 40 years.  They’d been living in Englewood for the 15 years since they retired.  We had a great time. On the way home I mentioned to Randy that if we ever moved to Florida, that’s the area I’d like to live in.  He looked at me and said, “that’s never going to happen.”

About a month after we returned to Missouri, Randy came down to breakfast one morning and announced that he was ready.  Ready for what, I asked.  Ready to move to Florida, he said. To say that I was shocked would be the understatement of the year. 

Fast forward 3 years to the life we’re living here in Florida.  Randy told the story of selling the house in Missouri and buying the one here in a previous blog post you can find here.  But I didn’t realize how much pure dumb luck played in making this house we call Grathen’s Last Resort our happily ever after home.

When we were looking for a house in Florida, there was so much we didn’t know that we didn’t know.  I suppose no matter how much research you do, there’s no way you’ll ferret out everything you need to consider in buying a house in Florida until you’re actually living in a home that’s less than ideal.  There are things about Florida that present unique challenges in home buying, but they aren’t things most people talk about openly.  If they did, a whole lot fewer people would move here. 

After a heavy rain this last week for just a few hours, we saw reports of flooding all over the area. That’s when I realized just how much pure dumb luck played a part in our buying this specific Florida house we consider paradise on earth.  Let me count the ways. 

1. We were advised to look for a home in an X Flood Zone, meaning not in an area vulnerable to flooding.  They’re not easy to find, though, especially in the coastal communities. We made several unsuccessful (thank goodness) offers on homes that were in flood zones.  This house is in an X Flood zone and sits higher (elevation 12.5 ft or so) than most homes in Rotonda.  Pure Dumb Luck.
2. As I’ve written about before, most of Florida was originally swampland.  Early developers learned how to outsmart the swamp…. temporarily it appears.  Now, as more and more homes are being build the “authorities” are not paying as much attention to the problems created by reclaiming swampland.  All that water has to go somewhere.  Main arterials like River Road (pictured above from that rain last week), which is our hurricane evacuation route, can’t even handle a heavy rain anymore without flooding.  We had no idea where to specifically look for a home when we decided on this area, but we ended up in a place developed enough that these problems have long been solved.  Pure Dumb Luck.
3. The front of our house faces west, which means the lanai and swimming pool are on the east side of the house.  It’s damn hot in Florida, but because of the orientation of the home, after about mid-morning, the outdoor living areas are in the shade the rest of the day.  The pool is in the sun until late afternoon in the summer.  It’s the perfect orientation for comfortable outdoor living in Florida.  Pure Dumb Luck.
4. Rotonda is an enormous, uniquely designed community (I wrote about that here).  There are some areas within the wagon wheel structure that take nearly half an hour simply to get outside of the circle to get anywhere else.  We live in a location on the circle that gets us out of the community quickly and easily and puts us closer than we’ve been in the last 25 years in Missouri to grocery stores, doctors, dentists, restaurants, and an amazing little used bookstore.  Pure Dumb Luck.
5. In Florida, traffic, especially in the November-April snowbird season, in a lot of places is horrendous.  The little out-of-the-way thumb of land (called Cape Haze) we live on is 20 miles from an interstate highway.  That protects us from a lot of short-term tourism, especially during spring break.  Our county doesn’t allow buildings over 4 stories on the shoreline so there are no high rise, high density population swelling crowds in our area.  Believe me when I say that’s an incredible blessing and keeps our year round frustration level low.  Pure Dumb Luck.
6. Englewood is actually a sleepy little town with a strong Old Florida feel to it.  There’s not a lot to do here, but retirees who come here for peace and tranquility (like us) are happy as can be here.  For those who prefer more entertainment and activity, the towns of Punta Gorda, Sarasota, and Fort Meyers are all about an hour’s drive and offer as much as most people could want.  Pure Dumb Luck. 

What great pure dumb luck it is that our last home (except maybe for a nursing home or our final resting place) should be so perfect for us.  We are grateful, Lord.

P.S. I’m starting to plan the grand tour of the country for our 50th anniversary next year. Randy looked shocked when I told him the first pass of the trip plan had us traveling for 80 days. What do you think? Sounds like an adventure of a lifetime to me!