An Anniversary

Exactly one year ago Michael, I, two cats, and what little we owned landed in Key West, escorted by Tropical Storm Isaac. Rather pathetically, we stood in the airport with no idea what was in store. No place to live. No friends. And feeling disconnected from a country that hadn't been our home for seven years. Michael's new boss came and retrieved us, found us a place to stay for a month, and we were on our own. Housing on Key West is not easy to find since many homes are only available for short-term vacationers. September was a pretty stressful month as we struggled to find a place that fit us. And find a way to fit in. At the last minute, the perfect apartment opened up for us, and we were on our way. Sort of.

While Michael threw himself into work and became friends with a co-worker, I was rather isolated, working on my computer at home. Within six months, I was experiencing full-blown reverse culture shock and became pretty depressed. Michael went through this too, but it hit him later. This is typical for many people who leave their home countries for long periods of time and then return. Our added difficulty was that we hadn't really wanted to come back. We didn't want to adapt. But resistance is futile.

Key West has been as good a place as any to re-assimilate, although it's not an easy place to live if you're on a tight budget. There are a number of free things for locals to do, lots of strange events, and plenty of people watching, but...it's not enough. We miss hiking. We miss hills. We miss trade-wind breezes. We miss empty beaches. We miss empty anything. We miss a lot of things, but I'm trying to keep the whining to a minimum.

We've spent the past year working our contacts back in St. Kitts, not only because that's where we want to live right now, but because that's where all our contacts are. Work is not easy to get anywhere, but we knew people back in the Caribbean and hoped that would be enough. Last week Michael had a great interview and was later told that an offer was pending. That offer was then rescinded. Sigh. Michael returns on Sunday.

I think we'll be putting our notice in with the landlord in a couple of days, no matter what happens. Key West, like California, is too expensive for us. The salaries don't match the cost of living. The people who live here either arrive rich, are willing to work several jobs and (not or) live with a few roommates to offset costs, or are homeless. We're none of those, although that last one might apply soon if things don't work out. Yes, once again, September is going to be a stressful month as we either celebrate an unexpected save in St. Kitts, or find somewhere else in the US that fits us better. It looks like a road trip is in our future. Of course, this is nothing new to us. We leaped from NYC to CA. From CA to VA. From VA to AZ. From AZ to the entire Eastern Caribbean. From Jacumba to St. Kitts. From St. Kitts to Key West. From Key West to ????   Stay tuned.