10 years ago I bought a house, actually a floating home, in Portland Oregon.

At the time when I was told things would need replacing or work would need to be done in 10 years, and I thought to myself:

“Who cares, I won’t be here.”

FYI – I never stay anyplace more than seven or eight years.”

Well – here we are 10 years later and I am still in that very same house. In fact this is the longest I have stayed put in one house since I moved away from New York City – and that’s 50 years of moving!

There is obviously something about Portland that has kept me here. I had to stop and think about it and I’ve come to the conclusion it’s

• my neighbors
• my house
• the river
• the city itself
• the friends I’ve made here
• the love of beer wine and dogs
• and lots more

And another thing I do think about as I have aged 10 years since I’ve lived here – is that I feel safe. Moorages are pretty safe, there’s people around most of the time and it’s just a friendly, neighborly situation where we all watch out for each other – so it’s a very safe place to grow old[er.]

The downside, though, of staying put for these 10 years, is that those things that I was told would need fixing – now need fixing.

When you move every seven or eight years, you don’t have to deal with a lot of repairs on houses, new appliances, or other things that might need being done. You go out and buy another house that meets your new requirements.

Well here I am, and I guess it’s time to start remodeling this house,

because frankly – I really don’t feel like moving again.

Thoughts? Comments?

Thank you!