Five years ago, I read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo and decided to do a little tidying up of my own. Well, actually a lot of tidying up.

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I embraced the concept of holding each possession and asking if it brought me joy, and the end result was letting go a lot of stuff and making room in my life for what was next. I finished on a Friday, went to Westerly to visit my sister on Saturday, and signed a contract on The View the following week. I had been watching this project for a couple of years, thinking it was perfect, but equally convinced that I could not afford it. When we ascended into the model apartment and saw ocean everywhere, I knew what I wanted and where I belonged, and I made it happen. It took about two years to finish building and move in, but I was still spending the majority of my time in Norwalk, Connecticut. The View was for weekends and work vacations.

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About a year after The View was complete, I came home from work one evening to find my Connecticut condominium complex surrounded by firetrucks and emergency vehicles. The fire was eventually extinguished – and my dear kitties were saved – but the condo was uninhabitable and The View became my sanctuary.  The one constant in my life during the next 18 months.  It made me want to be here, to really live here. So, when my Norwalk condo was available again, I moved to Westerly while it was on the market. The day it sold I became a Rhode Island Resident without an ounce of hesitation.

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I just knew.

 

The minute I saw The View.

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