As I mentioned in Monday’s post, Vishnu and I are moving to Miami! We found what we were looking for a few weeks ago and just finalized all the details this week. We move in 2.5 weeks…eek. Luckily, we haven’t collected too much crap over the past 10 months! Even so, the next few weeks are going to be insane with selling furniture, packing, unpacking, organizing, etc.

But most importantly, we’re happy. Vishnu’s happy to be living in a young, lively neighborhood full of restaurants and bars. I’m happy to no longer have a 2.5+ hour commute…and to be in a young, lively neighborhood!

Something I haven’t talked about on the blog is why we decided to move (yet again). When we first moved to Fort Lauderdale, I swore a million times over that we were going to stay put for at least 3 years (until Vishnu starts residency). Our [current] apartment is affordable, big, clean, and modern. However, the surrounding neighborhood isn’t the greatest, especially for a young, newly married couple. And everyone, including our parents, hated the fact that my commute was so long. I was willing to deal with all of this because of the affordability factor. Vishnu wanted to discuss our options.

Around the end of last year, Vishnu started bringing up the possibility of us moving closer to where I work, which is a beautiful area full of young professionals. He felt like we were 29 going on 59…all because of where we lived. I knew he was right, but I couldn’t fathom paying so much more in rent. It didn’t make sense to me financially, so I kept pushing back.

When we were in Chicago for New Years, Vishnu brought up the conversation again…this time with our friends Roshni, Samir, and Jetan. While they all saw my perspective, they agreed with Vishnu that this was the time for us to enjoy city living and have fun. Vishnu was so happy that they took his side and rubbed it in my face all the way back to Florida! I still wasn’t ready to agree.

Then, around the beginning of February, I came home from work one day, sat down, and said, “Let’s move to Miami.” To this day, I don’t really know what made me change my mind. I think it was a combination of really thinking about Vishnu’s reasoning and the conversation with our friends and observing the way we lived a little more closely. I finally came to understand that living in the city would increase the quality of our lives. We really have no clue where we’ll be moving next, so why not enjoy the present and live it up a little. Who knows – we could be in small town in the middle of nowhere in a couple of years. Fingers crossed that doesn’t happen! And while this move means we won’t be saving as much every month, we can still afford it (I’ve done the calculations a million times).

Anyway, Vishnu was stoked…and confused…about my change of heart, but he took it and ran with it! A few months later, we started our search and here we are with moving day not too far away.

Our new neighborhood

I know this is going to sound crazy, but as the big day nears, I am filled with so much…gratitude. It’s hard to describe. Trust me – I’ve just typed, deleted, and retyped various sentences trying to describe what it is that I’m feeling but can’t put it into words right now. Maybe later.

Well, I’m off to pack…and pack some more. I hope you have a wonderful (and safe) weekend!