Salty Balty-More

It had been a long time coming and to be truthful I am surprised it did not happen sooner. In fact, it was over two years ago during an unusualy long and bitter cold winter that I mustered up the courage to sell the majority of my belongings and completely split out of DC town for what I assumed would be at the very least an extended vacation on the West Coast.

In transition, and shortly after moving into Matilda's apartment as a staging ground for a cross country truck trip, I fell ill to a severe inner ear infection that had my world spinning and kept me off balance and severely sick for the better part of six months. My wanderlust would have to wait.

After using the winter to slowly heal and nearing the completion of Matilda's degree we decided that it would be best if we left the DC region entirely.

Even though as a result of my ear infection, I did not have the chance to explore the West Coast, we still flirted with the idea of settling in San Diego, Colorado, and even discussed Austin Texas. One compelling factor that kept us grounded to the East Coast in our discussions was the proximity to our families in Upstate, New York. We were willing to sacrifice a lot, but family was uncomprimisable.

After many discussions the question seemed to always come back full circle. Should we just stay in DC? Mind you that I have run the full gambit in DC metro living. I have lived in Arlington, S. Alexandria, N. Alexandria, Woodbridge, and Manassas. Never quite finding a comfortable landing.

The last eight years have had me cooped up in apartments, high-rises, and condominiums. As a result, I was desperately yearning for a my own house with a garage, a workshop, and a garden. All a man needs. Seriously, I have been working with intangible software at my 9 to 5 for years. I needed some space and opportunity where I could work and get my hands dirty building, fixing, growing tangible objects. We knew that this was not going to be an affordable possibility in the greater DC region.

After some research and a general familiarity with our largest northern neighbor we decided to entertain the idea of moving to Baltimore.

Fast forward six more months and it was late October and Matilda had been working in Baltimore since September. So towards the latter part of October after working with a Realtor over the entire summer we found a beautiful house in North East Baltimore that seemed ironicaly have found us. As it turns out it is a true original craftsman house, a type of house we have always dreamed of owning. The Arts and Crafts (Craftsman) movement in architecture is a facinating history and we both agreed with the pricinples of this movement. We made an offer on the house and anxiously waited for the sellers to accept. They did, and as of November 20th we have taken ownership of our dream home.

So here we are, we live within the city limits, I have a detached two car garage, my back yard, with a garden coming soon. I even got my workshop downstaires in the semi-finished basement. Lastly as a major bonus, I have always wanted to live in a sea-faring community and everyday as I drive over the Inner Harbor on the route 95 bridge I get the opportunity to look off to my left and see ocean freighters unloading their cargo. What a beautiful sight.