Relocation.nop

I took the above picture about a week ago. After three years of circumnavigating the country, I had literally just chosen Raleigh, NC as the place I wanted us to settle and buy a home. I was pretty ecstatic. Sure, the Stop sign was kind of in the way, but I thought it so fortuitous that I had reached this epiphany just as I was sitting parked for a moment with this view. Then…the storms happened. Such devastation. I can no longer say that I am ready to settle anywhere right now and am firmly back at square one - having no idea. I was going through my photos last night and looked at this one again. Needless to say, the Stop sign bore a lot more meaning than it had previously. We were going to go down the East coast to Florida, spending several weeks in Raleigh to check it out, but I don’t even think we’ll be doing that anymore…these storms and crazy weather have really put the kibosh on our future plans.

Update:

We did finally visit the Raleigh area around Thanksgiving and found it breathtakingly beautiful. Unfortunately, the racial strife and stratification in the area was too much to bear. Our van is a $100,000+ van and yet we were followed out of and watched when we went into Starbucks and came back out to the van with armsfull of bags and drink containers because it was pouring rain and there was no seating inside. We then proceeded to park a few blocks away and wait until we had dinner at Fleming’s steak house. Needless to say, we were in a nice part of town. And yet, security kept driving slowly by, back and forth, for the two hours before they likely saw us leave the van, all dressed up, and go into Flemings for Thanksgiving dinner. There were other instances where it was just a vibe…white women with their noses up into the air because, I’m guessing, at least they weren’t an ethnic ‘minority.’

Believe it or not, we have been much more welcomed in places further south - namely Charleston, SC and even in Alabama. So, as pretty as the Raleigh area is, it’s pretty much a no-go for us.