Gabi's House- Ocala Townhouse

Ironically, I posted a bunch of pictures of my former townhouse for this post, and they've all been replaced by squares with question marks inside. The old pictures are lost.
Much like my memory of the place!

Gabi’s House Ocala- the Move Back to the Swamp

I met a guy one night after my friend Tim’s performance in a show at the Orlando (Christmas 2005) whose dad worked at an environmental firm. I e-mailed his dad and eventually met him, got some advice, and told him I’d be in touch after I finished my economics degree since I was planning to work in the environmental economics field. A year and a half later, I got in touch, pasted my resume onto the bottom of the message, and didn’t think too much of it. I asked him if he knew of any jobs or had any job search advice for me. I was willing to go somewhere in the Southeast (as far southwest as Austin, TX, which I hear is a really cool place) or the Pacific NW but didn’t want to stay in Baltimore/DC. My allergies were out of control, requiring serious meds, and I figured I needed a change now that my relationship was over, so it was a good time to go.

My contact replied to say that his firm happened to be hiring, and he’d already forwarded my resume. Here were the people to call and their numbers. Call them soon. I thought, whoa! I got my first interview e-mailing someone in my jammies. I am off to an excellent start!

This was the day before Memorial Day weekend began. I spent Memorial Day weekend in Boston, called the office Tuesday morning, and by Wednesday had a job offer in an unlikely place- Ocala, FL. Ocala is more or less the same town I grew up in 25 years ago, it just happens to be 100 miles north of my official home town, Lakeland. I went to the prom here in 1991 (and I wish I was still friends with that guy, because it is hard to meet people within 10 years of my age in Ocala). So, I went onto http://www.craigslist.org/ and found a place to stay in Ocala- 8 miles west of I-75, 10 miles away from my job. My roommate, who worked in both Ocala and Orlando, happened to be a realtor- and when I found out that I could actually afford a townhouse here in Ocala, that led to a major purchase of Ocala TownHouse, or OTH for short.

But back to the “country house.” Meg, the roommate, had it all furnished well, with satellite TV and everything- a nice situation to move into when you’re coming into a new town. She also had a record player with all of her records from the ‘70s and ‘80s, and I would play them often- mostly Beatles, Elton John and even ELO. Although the house was spacious and cool, and the woods nearby lovely, I did get lonely… But being *only* 100 miles or so from Tampa, I did get to reconnect with some friends, which has been a real sanity-saver.

Meg's dog is so cute. She looks like my old dog, Buddy, except she's smaller and has slightly different coloring. Still, it was like seeing a familar face when I met her.

I became emboldened by the local real estate (watch out for falling prices!) and went a-shopping with Meg. We found a place that was out of my price range, but we couldn't leave the office because they assigned this cute guy to show us around and, well, we are only human. Long story short... the price fell drastically, we made a deal, and then it was time to move again! First January, then June, then September was when the moving dates took place. Needless to say, I do not plan to move again for a while- AT LEAST 2 years.

Oh, and did I mention that the second I got back into Florida, the ex called me and was upset, asking me if this meant our relationship was *really* over. I replied, and I quote, "Whaaaat?" Then, being so darn amusing, I added that if he happened to realize that if his glamorous stint as a special agent police officer in DC doesn't work out, he can always move to Ocala and be a sheriff. And then I laughed. Here I was thinking that I had made some logical decision based on his behavior- you know, when you break up with someone and don't call them for 4 months, they ARE allowed to make independent decisions and move away from you- but apparently he was waiting in the wings all the time. Ay, carumba.

Gabi's House North

The story of 2007 begins with a move up north. It was an awkward time, as so many of my times have been in the past 34 years, but a growing and learning experience nevertheless. My scheme to move to Baltimore began innocently enough. I had planned to go work in the DC area as an environmental economist, or something similar, or whatever my strengths in the workplace would get me as far as a job. It was on my list of places to check out and then I started dating someone who wound up working in DC, so I figured, OK, this is where the Fates are pointing me to go.

By last September, it was pretty clear that my relationship with said boyfriend was swirling around at about toilet level. To summarize, we had some serious communication issues. We hadn’t lived in the same state since Jan. 2006. I won’t go into details but it’s enough to say, I wanted to see if there was a chance that we could make it through a tough time and the only way I’d find out is by going up there.

Of course, I had “Friend Insurance.” Hello, I’ve been single most of my life. I wouldn’t dare let my friendships fall by the wayside or move to a place with no friends in the vicinity when I suspect my love relationship might crumble like a year-old moldy cookie. I moved to a place where there were friends from my old job- namely Liz, Tina, Cooper, Lenny, and then the ones I met once I got there: Jason & Allison, Mike, Scott, Craig, Wayne, and his brother Glen- the last 3 on that list ran the neighborhood liquor store, which was a fine place to visit and convenient as there was no need to name a designated driver since we’d walk home. Conveniently, Liz lived 5 miles from the school I’d be attending (I was completing a bachelor’s in economics with an emphasis on environmental science) and let me live with her.
Therefore, without further ado, allow me to introduce Gabi’s House Baltimore, which I only inhabited for 5 months, but still, if we’re going to document 2007 we have to cover 3 houses and this is the first. In June all the trees were covered with leaves, flowers growing everywhere, and a screen on the front door.

At Liz’s house we had Codie the cat. I had a few names for him- specifically, Codie the Cowboy (because he kind of ambled instead of walked) and Codie Bear (because he always wanted to snuggle). Codie was there for me when my ex was being difficult and when we broke up- about 3 weeks after I arrived, and just before Valentine’s Day (of course). When the weather was cold and I was sad, Codie would come sit with me and be adorable and comfort me. What a sweet cat. He also had a sister, Dorrie, who was not really into snuggling. Every day, Liz would pick her up and she would struggle to get away. Liz would tell her, “But Dorrie, you love being held!” but it never seemed to convince her.

I was so lucky to have Liz around with all the excitement of the breakup and moving to a new place. She’d draw maps for me to help me get around town and even fixed my computer a few times! Also, there was the emotional support. We both had the goal of eventually leaving the area- she because she had a chance to move to the mountains, and hello! Of course she wanted to do that, and me because what was I going to be hanging around for? I could get a job anywhere now that the Ex-B had exited the stage, and I wasn’t wild about snow- so it was time to think about going south for the summer, or to the Pacific Northwest, where I’d tolerate snow just to be there, depending on who hired me. So we were both coming up with a Baltimore Exit Strategy, and it was good to have each other to talk things over with. Mine took about a week, as you’ll learn in the next installment of Gabi’s House- the Move Back to the Swamp.