North of Flagler Street?

So the times may be a changin' for this very happy as things are Daddy in the USA...

Last night we attended seder 1.0 at D1's suegros. They are so warm and loving...and cool. Jackie and Ricardo are in the process of moving out of their Aventura condo -- to a house just a block or so away from D1 and Joey -- in Miami's Upper East Side. Their oldest, Bob, and Vera, due with the first grandchild in August, live in Morningside -- mere blocks away.  The youngest is Alan, and he lives in D1 and Joey's current building in Midtown...

Well, D1 and Joey plan to start a family, and Jackie, wisely, wants to be close to the action. D1 adores her -- and Jackie is careful to be an excellent suegra -- told D1 she would never come over uninvited, and will only help as requested. D1 replied that if she woke up and Jackie was in their bed with them, she'd hug her and make her coffee...So there's all this closeness going on.

Enter Wifey, and her strong desire for a "change" and to be closer to the kids as well. We also know that when D2 and Jonathan return from their NYC sabbatical, they ain't moving South, either -- all the young kids seem to love Midtown and Brickell areas.

And then yesterday Wifey found a house she KNEW would appeal to me -- 1926 med style, totally renovated (by the classy looks of it, I'm guessing by gay guys) on a double lot in Morningside.  The place is smaller than Villa Wifey, but has a guest house that Wifey is already selling as a man cave for me...And the price, while still quite high, has been reduced a lot. Wifey and our long time friend Allison, who is a broker, will go check the place out.

But I love where I live! I was chatting with Ricardo, and he said "David, but being close to your beloved family..."  I mean, it's not like we live in a different county -- without traffic Ha! Pinecrest is only a 30 minute drive.  I guess we'll see...

The seder was lovely. My son in law wrote a new haganah, a sort of Cliffs Notes version, which we all read and got through in less than 30 minutes. He dedicated it to his beloved maternal grandfather, who died 5 years ago. I could tell the abuelo, Joseph, was quite a guy. His son in law speaks of him in glowing terms.

Joey's big brother had to attend on the couch -- he snapped his achilles tendon, and just had surgery. Poor guy was in a lot of pain, but still participated. Vera is pregnant.  We told Bob he needs to be fully healed soon.  He understood...

On the way home, I reflected on domicile.  Since I moved here in 1979, I have always, except for college summers, lived South of Flagler Street.  The months in Kings Point were the worst -- I never felt at home in my Mom's condo -- a place she loved. It was essentially a huge parking lot with some blocky 2 story condos in the middle -- and the folks were some very cranky elderly Jews.  I used to get yelled at for washing my car on weekends -- as if I was going to hurt the asphalt with the hose water...

But I lived on campus in the Gables, and then in Kendall, first with Eric and then Wifey. Wifey and I owned two houses also in Kendall -- what they now call East Kendall, to differentiate the area build before the sprawl all the way west to the Everglades...

Then in 2000 we moved to Pinecrest -- also way South.  I've always felt comfortable here, although never really excited about it. It's suburbia, and I've been a suburban guy. Wifey says it's time to change...

So we'll see...maybe she sees the Villa Wifey of Morningside place and gives it thumbs down.  Moving to the Grove remains an option, too -- also South of Flagler, but not by as much...

I guess the coming days will show...