Guilt-Ridden Trip to Ohio

Now that Ashley is in college, Don and I are starting to plan our "empty nest" life. Nearly a year ago we identified Westerville, Ohio as where we would like to life.

Then the pandemic hit.

Over the summer numbers started to drop in New Jersey, but rise in Ohio. Ohio landed on The List -- the list of states if we visited we would have to quarantine for 14 days after we returned. 

Ugh.

All we wanted to do was visit family and see if the town of Westerville, OH is truly where we want to target moving to, and if so -- where in the town? 

We enjoyed spending Columbus Day Weekend in Ohio. We ate out for every meal and stayed in a hotel. It felt so decadent, especially after our room was upgraded to a suite following two nights of listening to a drip behind a wall.

We visited with Heidi each day, and had a socially distant visit in Aunt Debra and Uncle Tom's back yard.

After a weekend of riding on the trails, and walking around downtown, we came to the conclusion that YES, this is where we want to move to in a couple of years. Don was able to ride his bike from the hotel to Bexley, OH, and only had to cross a couple of streets to do so (the rest were via tunnels under roads). Now when I look at maps on Zillow.com, I can picture the streets and which ones are close enough to Route 3/State Street. We found restaurants we want to frequent (including a Mimi's Cafe near the mall, the same chain we fell in love with across the street from Disneyland), parks we want to explore, a five-star library with a dragon on it, and a vibe we want to be a part of.

This won't be quick. Ashley just finished her first semester of college. We are still living through a pandemic (it would be nice to see a house in person before purchasing it). We have to worry about health care.

But...we feel as if we have a direction.

As for the guilt, the day after we came home Ohio was on THE LIST. Should we quarantine or since it wasn't on the list when we were there, do we really have to? I elected for a modified version. I still went to work and the grocery store, but did not do anything extra. I was only in contact with a few people, and I obsessively wore my mask. A month later and it is safe to say we did not catch COVID, but the guilt was still there.

Tired of living in the era of guilt. I would have felt guilty if we didn't tell my family we were near them. Felt guilty for visiting and bringing NJ germs with us. Hopefully within six months the vaccine will enable us to return to a different new normal, one that allows us to hug each other again and be closer.