See ya Later Miami, Hello Orlando

When we moved from Orlando to Miami in October of 2017, we thought it was forever, or at least I did. I expected to die at some point while we lived in Miami. In 2017, I’d recently been diagnosed with Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) and had learned that the median life expectancy was two (2) to three (3) years and I had a 28% chance of living for five (5) years. While we always knew that statistics don’t hold true for every single person, I’d already been on the losing end of statistics to be diagnosed with breast cancer at all and to be diagnosed de novo Stage IV, so my expectations were somewhat dismal.

It’s been FIVE (5) years and now we are headed back to Orlando, a place where both Elliot and I went to college, where we both started our careers, where we bought and sold our first houses, where we had both of the boys. It is both a familiar and unfamiliar place as we have changed in the time that we’ve been gone and so has the City.

We are moving back to the house we bought when I was pregnant with our eldest, into the neighborhood we chose to raise our boys. The trees are a lot taller and there are different neighbors but the “feel” of the neighborhood that we were drawn to is the same. There are old and new friends who we look forward to reconnecting with and connecting with in real life since so much of our lives are online these days.

Yes, we have left dear friends, a school that has felt like a second home at times, and a community of support and love. Knowing we have lots of extra beds and Disney close by, we know that these connections won’t end just because we don’t live so close. In fact, seeing how we’ve been able to maintain connections in Orlando gives us a lot of hope that our relationships in Miami will continue as well.

And so we say, see you later to Miami and hello Orlando!