Recently we celebrated our 35th Anniversary! It is hard to believe that only a few months ago we were still living in New Jersey. After 30+ years in Bridgewater (we had 3 homes from 1993 to 2026)—homes filled with family memories, dogs, projects, holidays, and more than a few pieces of furniture that somehow followed us everywhere—we packed up our lives and headed south.
We had talked about downsizing for years, but there is a big difference between talking about it and actually watching the moving truck arrive. We no longer had any family/work ties to New Jersey, and we had family in Florida, so that was the logical choice. Our son was on board since he likes to travel anyway and said he would prefer flying to Florida over driving to New Jersey!
2026 was a particularly brutal winter. It was bitter cold in January. We even had to buy a new snowblower to keep up with the never-ending snow and ice. Then in early February, we had to say goodbye to our beloved Goldendoodle, Topper. He had been a part of our family for nearly 14 years, so it left quite a void. We needed a change of scenery and Florida seemed the logical choice–better weather, retirement-friendly, and family. My two sisters-in-law helped preview some homes and by the end of February we had signed a contract. The house even had built-in turf in the lanai, so it was perfect for us! The former owners were also dog lovers, so it appears this house was made for us!
The Packing Nightmare
We had 3 months to pack up our house filled with 30+ years of furniture, clothes, keepsakes, and clutter. I had also accumulated many items from my parents, both of whom had passed during the past ten years. Unfortunately, I had also inherited their pack-rat tendencies, so it was a lot to go through. The new home would have considerably less square footage with no basement or usable attic, so we had to make some decisions.
The first to go was my piano. It was the piano I learned on and my parents gave it to us when we bought our first house. It was heavy, out-of-tune, and I really hadn’t been playing over the past 20 years, so I listed it on Facebook Marketplace and sold it quickly for $200. We also gave away a lot of our dining room and living room furniture. Dave sold the brand-new snowblower and we scheduled donation pick-ups and used a local donation drop-off for clothing, books, and linens.
That phase wasn’t too bad, but then we tackled the basement, which had over 50 bins and boxes of holiday decorations, school keepsakes, correspondence, toys (especially Legos and Video Games), and Halloween costumes. Plus we had a treadmill and other exercise equipment. We inventoried everything and sold some Lego sets on Facebook Marketplace. We also sold many of the old Video Game systems and games to a local Retro Gaming Store. Old correspondence and some school work were shred-I literally had every card and letter from the past 50 years. My husband handled the schoolwork, which was winnowed from 8 bankers boxes to 2. Everything we were moving had been moved up to the first floor and organized in bins.
Even though the basement was empty, there were still closets jammed with craft supplies, scrapbooks, purses, clothes, and empty electronics boxes. Why I saved the box of every electronic we had owned over the past 20 years is unknown to me! It seemed hopeless, until a friend of mine invited me to a Facebook Swap group. I would offer an item free-of-charge and whoever posted “interested” first had to pick-up within 48 hours. I was able to part with many items such as Vera Bradley purses and accessories, knick knacks, artwork, scrapbook supplies, and exercise equipment. It was very therapeutic because the people that picked the items up were going to give them a second life. I also met a lot of nice people in the process! I can honestly say that there is not a single thing I regret. Fortunately, I only gave away about half of my piano music-more on that later.
In mid May we loaded a POD with some essential furniture as well as things we could easily load and stack, and saved the rest for moving day on May 27th for our early morning flight the next day. Daisy and Bear were very well-behaved for the early morning flight and in about 7 hours we would become Floridians!
Making Florida Home
What has surprised me the most is how quickly our new house and location felt like home!
I love the new kitchen–not only are the appliances top-notch, but there is a lot of storage because the high ceilings accommodate tall cabinetry. I can now leave my beautiful Kitchenaid stand mixer on display, and I purchased some fun nautical theme canisters for my baking supplies. I did create a new starter (DoughPool went Bye-Bye-Bye in mid-May) My new starter is aptly named FloriDough (probably not original). It was very easy to create the new starter-the warmer climate keeps the kitchen at a very starter-friendly temperature. I have already baked some bread, crumpets, and delicious thumbprint cookies.
My favorite purchase for the new house is a Dynatone Digital Piano. After neglecting my piano for years, I enjoyed playing my sister-in-law’s Yamaha digital piano (with headphones) and I was hooked! No need to tune and I can play without anyone hearing my wrong notes! I have spent the past three months relearning many of my favorite Chopin Waltzes, Mazurkas, and now am tackling Chopin’s Military Polonaise, one of my signature pieces from the 1980s. Fortunately I had kept about half of my piano music, including my favorite Chopin anthology books. I play most days, and have been pleasantly surprised that my hands seem to remember! I even updated my profile picture to feature my new piano!
We have also been making some additional furniture purchases over the past months, but that will be discussed in a future article.
New Wildlife to Love (and fear)
The hardest things to leave behind were our beautiful neighborhood foxes. While our NJ house was pending sale, I used to watch them on our cameras. When the sale was final and our Internet/WiFi cancelled I felt sad that I could no longer check in on our unofficial pets. I am still hoping to see a fox, since they are found in Florida too.
In the meantime, I enjoy the variety of birds, bunnies, and the protected gopher tortoises that roam our neighborhood. We also see the tiny lizards everywhere, sometimes one makes it into the house. As a frog-lover, they don’t particularly bother me, I just trap them and set them free outside; however, I definitely don’t want one crawling on me during the night!
We also recently spotted our first alligator in the canal—yikes! Also in the canal we are entertained by large fish leaping out of the water as if they are Olympic divers!
Our Bismarck palm has become one of my favorite parts of the property. Its enormous silver-blue fronds look beautiful from outside, but I especially love seeing it through the windows of the leisure room as the late-afternoon sun hits it. The Florida sunsets aren’t bad either.
New Dogs to Love!
Moving closer to family has also meant enjoying some new dogs! Both of Dave’s sisters have dogs, and Chloe (labradoodle) and Callie (poodle) visit frequently. We sometimes visit Kevin, who belongs to Dave’s other sister and brother-in-law. It is nice to have some big dogs back in our lives after losing our beloved Topper.
Callie, a Standard Poodle, stayed with us for an extended visit and quickly became part of our routine. She is sweet, quiet and beautifully trained, and I became much more attached to her than I expected. She also memorized every location where she had ever spotted a rabbit on our walks. The rabbits may not miss her quite as much as I do.
Chloe gave everyone a much bigger scare. In August she developed GDV—bloat—and needed emergency surgery. During surgery the doctors also discovered that she has only one kidney. Thankfully, she recovered and was able to celebrate her 11th birthday.
After that experience, having all four dogs together, happy and healthy, felt especially worth celebrating. Of course, we needed some help creating a birthday picture, since our dogs are so uncooperative!
A Very Full First Few Months
When I think about everything that has happened since May, it is rather astonishing.
We moved more than a thousand miles, became Florida residents, bought one house and sold another, furnished and reorganized rooms, discovered new wildlife, welcomed visiting dogs, survived Chloe’s medical emergency, started new projects and gradually figured out where everything belongs.
More importantly, we have been able to spend time with Dave’s family who we had seen only occasionally over the past 20+ years. It was wonderful to celebrate my mother-in-law’s 94th birthday, Judy’s retirement, and spend time with our niece’s children!
There are still boxes to organize. The artwork isn’t all hung. Some rooms are very much works in progress. I have quilts to finish, chair covers to sew and an apparently endless ability to reconsider the placement of a table or lamp.
In other words, we’re home.
Sometimes in the evening I look out at the palm trees, the pool and the Florida sky and think about how different everything looks from our life in New Jersey.
We loved that life.
And we’re really enjoying this one, too.
Welcome to our Florida chapter.
