Maryland predecision area tour - Day two (part one).
Today was day out with the realtor. George, my realtor, is a great guy. Based on some conversations we had before I got out here, he showed me a lot of the area and some of the housing areas available to me. We based the housing choices on what I could afford to rent (not sure I would want to buy, as I'm not convinced this is somewhere I'd want to live long term. Plus, unsure housing market and homes that are a whole whopping lot more expensive than anything back in Texas....like double the cost and sometimes then some. Just silly expensive. Okay, part of that is that Texas is just silly dirt cheap to live. Where I live in Texas has got to have some of the most affordable housing prices in the nation. Taxes and insurance make up for some of it, but just for the house itself, it's crazy cheap.) And also on the fact that I have two cats (who I would say "Hi" to, except they can't read.).
For housing options, there's a lot. Finding stuff that's affordable is a bit more complicated. Finding stuff that's in a reasonable area, not too far from the base, not too far from basic shopping areas and not too far from one of two PCA churches in the area (we drove by both buildings. I need to remember to once again thank Fred for designing our amazing church building.) is more complicated. But the housing options are out there.
For basic necessities and niceties of living, well that depends on what you're interested in. If you want water sports, life is good. You're never more than a few miles from the water here, being on one of two penninsulas (or one of two island areas. But that affordable housing thing comes up again.). There's enough shopping that you can get buy...the basic Generica options (Target, Old Navy, Best Buy, Wally World, gas stations, super markets, chain restaurants) as well as some mom and pop places. There's some urgent care facilities and well as doctor's offices. Although the nearest hospitals are at least 20 minutes out...and that kinda makes me a bit nervous. I'm used to having hospitals down the street. But I also have to remember that I am in very good health and, while it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling knowing that I could be in an emergency room in less than five minutes, it's probably not a huge deal that the hospital's a bit farther away. Similar situation with the fire department. It's all volunteer fire departments here. I've never lived in an area with that situation. But I know people who have and who do and, again, especially if you're in predominantly good health, it's not a huge deal. No warm fuzzy feeling, but not a huge deal.
Overall, I think I've got a good feel for the area. Or, I will, once my brain gets a chance to digest everything. Cause right now, my head feels a bit over full.
So, for the question of whether I could live here, I now know that the answer is yes. It would be more expensive. But it's not out of the question unaffordable. The bigger question is do I want to? And, especially, am I willing to pick up and start over coming out here. Most people in this position are married and many have kids. So, while it's more complicated to move an entire family (especially with a working spouse and/or school age kids), at least they get to move as a family. There will obviously be some issues with leaving a support structure, friends and all of that. But, at least the family is together. For me, being single, the considerations are a bit different. The people who I live my day-to-day life with, the people I consider a part of my family, wouldn't be coming with me. My friends, my church family, the gang at the gym, all the people I hang out with, depend on regularly and live my regular life with would be staying in Fort Worth. It'd be just me and the cats. And so, for me, I'm pretty sure that I'm just not ready to volunteer to leave that at this point in my life. I know that a lot of those people who are a part of my Texas family aren't ready for me to leave them....they've told me so (it's great to know that you're loved like that).
So far, this weekend, I've gotten out of it about what I expected to. I've got a basic familiarity with the area. I'm pretty sure that I could find everything, infrastructure-wise that I need to live. There's still a question of church home. But I do know that there are at least two churches of my denomination, another PC(USA) (the denomination I grew up and where I worshipped in college) and a variety of other churches of varying denominations. Plus there's always the base chapel. So, I'm pretty sure I could find a congregation to be a part of. But, what I haven't gotten is the 2x4 over the head that says that this is where I need to be living in the near future. And, with the activities that remain (dinner tonight and then all the transportation required to get back home tomorrow) I don't think that will come (still could, but the smart money is on "not gonna happen").
So, that's what I'm thinking.
As for what will happen now, I'm not entirely sure. It's easily going to be at least six months before I'd be asked to make a decision. Probably roughly a year before I'd actually physically move (should I decide that's what I need and/or want to do). So, there's some time, which is nice. The thing that I'm worried about, and that many people who I work with are worried about is how much of a decision it will actually be, on our parts. Or, really, what the decision will be. Will it be just as simple as move or stay in Fort Worth and travel (or not travel). Or will it be move or find a new job (in Fort Worth, somewhere else but still in the company, at another company). These are things that we don't know yet and which we won't know.
The one nice thing about this is that this is the last of the area tours. And, with the decision still months away, after recovering from this trip, I can shift all my thoughts of this stuff to the back of my head at least until we get through the holidays. And that will be nice.
Oh, and one nice added bonus from today is that I got to check off one thing on my list of things to do before I'm done living. Right before coming back to the hotel, George (that's my realtor, see the first paragraph) and I dropped by the Pax River museum. The gate to where they have the aircraft on static display (and out door area) was open, so we wandered in. I got to see the X-35C (Navy variant of the concept demonstrator aircraft. One of the aircraft that helped us win the contract to build the F-35). And looking inside the nose wheel well, I saw a bunch of names written in black sharpie marker. Among those names is mine. I wasn't out here when the airplane quit flying...I only supported the first two weeks. But when the team that was out here came home, I remember someone...Greg or John or Ricky saying that they had written all or our names up in the wheel well. I always trusted that they were telling the truth. But I had never seen them. Now I have. And I've got pictures (unfortunately, I didn't bring anything to get the pictures from my camera onto the 'puter. So pictures here will have to wait. I'll try to get them up next week.). It was really cool to see my name written in there and to just see get to touch the aircraft. She's still as beautiful as I remember her. Especially when compared to the X-32 (Boeing's airplane...which suffered many unfavorable nicknames...some of which are not exactly fit for public consumption. My favorite that is was "The Sailor Inhaler", so named due to the gapping maw of an inlet that the airctraft has.) which sits across from the X-35. It's been almost six years since I've seen the X-35C. Getting to spend a few minutes with her was kinda like catching up with an old friend.
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