June 11, 2024

This is the view from my apartment in Boston. Boston? How did I end up in Boston when I set off from Montana last fall headed for Portugal via Arizona? It’s a little bit of a complicated tale but the bottom line is that the timing to move to Portugal was not right and I felt like I needed to be closer to my daughter, Jordan, who lives in Boston – so here I am. This is why one should be very careful about using the word ‘never.’   I ‘never’ thought I would be living in Boston and yet, look what happened? Years ago, after believing I would ‘never’ live in New York City, I found myself living in the middle of Manhattan for several months. As I said, ‘never’ is a very dangerous word!

I was unable to sell my house in Bozeman last fall because of the high interest rates and because I got tied up in a contingency sale with a buyer who was unable to sell their house. Fast forward six months and the same buyer still wanted my house, was able to sell their house and made the same exact offer on my house they had made six months earlier, without the contingency.   I agreed and found myself facing a closing date of May 30^th. After closing, I embarked on a 2,600-mile drive to Boston after having shipped my stuff via two U-Haul boxes.

I have driven across the country to New York and Boston before so this time I decided to swing up through Canada and come back into the country at Niagara Falls since I had never seen it. I went through North Dakota and Minnesota and then headed north and crossed into Canada near Thunder Bay. I spent the next two and a half days driving the Trans-Canada highway (which is generally in excellent condition). I did run into some challenging weather – rain, fog, wind – from time to time but the scenery was great, including seeing a moose standing alongside the highway!

I stopped for one night in Niagara Falls and took the requisite pictures. I didn’t feel the need to take the boat ride down by the falls and, truth be told, I was tired of driving and wanting to get to Boston so wasn’t really interested in anything that would delay my onward journey. The falls are impressive for sure so I’m glad I checked that box!

I have not written off Portugal and who knows what the future holds but for right now, this is where I need to be. When I decided to make this move and leave Montana, I had a short list of ‘must haves’ for my new life in Boston. I wanted to be within walking distance of Jordan. I wanted to have a view of the water. And I wanted a neighborhood that was walkable. I found my current apartment in the Seaport area of Boston, and it checks all the boxes. I’m on the 19^th floor of a nice building and overlook the harbor which is just across the street. Across the harbor sits Boston Logan airport, and I can sit in my living room and ‘help’ the air traffic controllers with all the aircraft departures and arrivals.

The downside, if you can call it that, of being this close to the water is that I feel a compelling need to get a boat! I did sell my Harley because riding a motorcycle here in Boston would be like harboring a death wish!!  The streets and drivers here are ‘challenging’! And that’s from someone who lived in LA for 40 years!! And then, of course, there is the parking issue. The bottom line is that it just wasn’t worth it to ship the HOG out here so now I am turning my attention to the water. I signed up for sailing lessons since the harbor is literally across the street and we will see where this all leads.

I am still getting settled in and expect to get the rest of my furniture on Saturday. After that, I will undertake the ‘job’ of exploring my new environment (including some serious ‘leaf peeping’ this fall) while taking the opportunity to spend more time with Jordan who is currently working full time at MIT. That is, until I head off to Panama for two weeks next month. Stay tuned for more on that and some other adventures planned for later this year.