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We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time

~ T.S. Eliot

If you’ve followed my blog in the past you know my husband and I lived in a small town in Connecticut for several years.

When my husband and I retired I wanted change. I wanted to live a big city, in a warmer climate,  gardening in a longer growing season. We moved to South Carolina and I  was excited about gardening in a different gardening zone, I read books learning about plants I had never grown before.

We moved into our house the end of summer; we felt like we were on vacation, warm temperatures and summer clothes. Seasons changed but not the landscape. I can remember trying hard to notice Fall; but with very few changes and the same warm, humid temperatures, it wasn’t the same Fall I knew in Connecticut.

In December I was happy purchasing evergreen roping and wreaths knowing I would continue our tradition of decorating our porch for Christmas like we had in Connecticut. Everything was brown in 2 weeks. Remembering what we had before made me miss it more.

I thought I’d adjust to the area if I started gardening but found out garden centers didn’t stock perennials and shrubs until April, so much for a long gardening season. When I was able to purchase plants, we created new garden beds; I enjoyed the creative part of planning the beds, but my heart wasn’t in it. Digging into the sandy soil made me feel like I was at the beach.

I tried to like our new city, but it wasn’t happening. Everything felt wrong. I realized all the things I thought I was tired of were still a part of me, held in a special place in my heart, and I didn’t want to give them up.

I remember the first time my husband and I walked the property of our Connecticut home. I wrote about that time in my first blog post: I Always Pulled the Weeds. Please click here to read.

You are probably thinking, who would move to an area they didn’t know anything about.  But, I did know. I read retirement blogs and articles referencing the best places to retire. I read city forums with questions and answers of pros and cons of areas. We visited the area 4 times and I felt sure I was making an informed choice of where to spend the rest of my life. But, I was wrong.

And so I chose this T.S. Eliot quote again, because it best describes how I felt the first time my husband and I walked around the property of the house we now call home. 

It is winter now, with remnants of our first beautiful snowfall still on the ground. Evergreen roping and a wreath decorate our front porch. And dried Annabelle hydrangeas are bent with snow-capped flowers.

Merry Christmas!

xoxo