Musings & Thoughts for Monday, December 18, 2023, or: Rainy Days and Mondays….

Early Afternoon, Monday, December 18, 2023, Madison, New Hampshire

Hi, everyone. Well, it’s been six days since my friend Patti Aliventi picked me up at my former home in Lithia, Florida, thus beginning the New England phase in my life. I’m still struggling to deal with the reasons why the move was necessary, but I also know that dwelling on the past is not healthy for me, so I’m not going to spend much time doing that.

I’m also not going to write about the reasons for the move. The only thing I will say is that Florida sucks as far as being an affordable place to live when you are (a) disabled and (b) poor.

Right now, the weather here is not as pleasant as it was during our three-day drive from the Sunshine State to the Live Free or Die one.  Last night we had a mix of rain and snow showers, and today we are seeing lots of rain. So much so, that Carroll County is currently under a flash flood warning until 7 PM.

To this Florida exile – I feel more like an exile than an immigrant – the temperature we are experiencing is…challenging. It’s currently 57°F/14°C under light rain conditions. The heating is on, so it’s not as unbearably chilly as one might imagine, but I neglected to get some instant cocoa when we went to the Market Basket in Conway a few days back…which makes the “drink hot cocoa while looking out of the window” thing impossible, at least in the present and near future.

I am doing my best to be of good cheer and patient with the whole moving and “settling in Small Town America” process. It’s hard, of course, because I had hoped to find affordable housing either in the Tampa area or if that didn’t pan out, South Florida.  Alas, as I said, my home state is stingy when it comes to helping out low-income people with disabilities, so finding a place down there – I almost typed “here” – is like getting a wealthy Republican to pass through the eye of a needle riding an elephant. Section 8 waiting lists are so long both in Miami – my preferred location since 2020 – and Tampa that the local housing authorities don’t even want folks like me to apply. Subsidized rental places are less difficult – and less nasty – than local government bureaucrats (thanks ever so much, Republicans!) – but the one place my friend in Tampa found near her home said they’d take my info cos I seemed to qualify…but they had zero apartments available in late October.  (My theory is that a tenant in that building, which rents only to folks 55 and over, must either move out or die to create a vacancy.)

Miami – my Plan A – was no better. The only promising offer I had was a temporary solution and depended on X happening before Y could happen (Y standing for my moving in), and since no one had a definite date for X, and time was of the essence here, I accepted my friend Patti’s offer to rent two rooms for a reasonable price that I could afford…even if it meant leaving the only U.S. state I had ever called home.

Maybe it’s the weather, but my mood…well, it ain’t so good. I miss my Tampa “peeps” immensely, for one thing, and it’s going to be a long time before I can get over the fact that I had to move out in the first place. More correctly, I knew I was going to move out of my friend’s house as long ago as November 2022, but I was counting on an offer to rent a house in Brandon – 12 miles away from Lithia – that was summarily rescinded on the flimsiest of “reasons.”

Anyway, the deed is done. I left Florida six days ago. I arrived here on Friday. The process of setting up my two rooms has begun, though I know (and understand) that it will be some time before all my “stuff” is set up and I have access to all my books, movies on physical media, CDs, and collectibles. I will have to be patient, which is something that I’ve had to learn to do in the eight years and five months since my mother died.

I don’t have much else to say, so I’ll close for now. Until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and count your blessings.