The Great Boston Experiment

Because life is too short.

It’s the one question Sarah and I get more than any other. Usually, it’s asked innocently enough, but with such a complex answer, the three-letter inquiry ignites a flurry of emotions that I can never fully explain our reasons.

Why?

Why leave Florida for Massachusetts? Why leave behind a steady paying job in my elected profession for uncertainty and self-doubt? Why leave behind a region where we’ve spent significant portions of our lives (three years for me, nearly a lifetime for Sarah) for an area we’ve visited a handful of times? Why leave behind family for a new home that is four hours from any relation? Why leave the warm climate for the New England winter?

The short answers are: we believe our lives will be better here; I have professional opportunities here that we can’t pass up; the Florida climate is overrated; we’d rather raise our family in a place with history and culture; new adventures are exciting.

The longer, complex answer starts with my job at the Naples Daily News. After three years at the paper and numerous cutbacks, I’d become tired, restless and unhappy with my job, and it was making me miserable during my time at work. Because I’d invested so much of myself into my profession, my misery carried over into my home life and effected my relationships with my wife and daughter. My time at NDN had to come to an end, the only question was whether I’d have to leave journalism altogether to get away from the job or if I could salvage something of the career I’d built. I left Florida because I was digressing as a journalist, and with my professional career still intact, I can start to build something better.

Sarah left because she believes in me. While she talked more openly and frequently about moving to Boston than me, I knew relocating would be much more difficult for her since she was raised in Florida and she would be leaving behind her mom, family, friends and familiar surroundings. Sarah also knows two people can’t happily raise a family when one of the two comes home from work beaten down by the world. To quote a friend, Sarah would rather be married to a failed dreamer than a successful wage-slave. Moving to Boston is a shot at a better life, and Sarah and I are both willing to take that chance.

Florida, while a wonderful place to visit, isn’t for us. Have you ever been a party where everyone was very nice and polite, the food was good, the entertainment was great and the atmosphere was enjoyable; but the whole time you know it’s all meant for someone else? Like going to a spouse’s office party, or a friend’s family Christmas? That’s what Florida is: a great place … for someone else. Southwest Florida, in particularly, is geared for retired sun, surf and sand crowd. Everything closes at 10 p.m. sharp, it’s all separated by miles and miles of highway and the median age of the population is 50. Plenty of people — young and old — carve out great lives for themselves in Florida, but it was never meant for us. I officially learned this truth when a member of our Florida condo association screamed at me for accidentally leaving the lights on in the community exercise room for four minutes. As we seek to build a great life, Sarah and I figure Boston is a good place to start.

And, yes, we realize New England has the sub-zero cold in the winter. We know what it’s like walking outside when Jack Frost wraps his icy fingers around your spine and won’t let go. For us, though, the weather trade-off is more than fair. In Southwest Florida, the humidity is so thick from May to November, it’s difficult to breathe outside, your shirt is soaked with sweat after five minutes and your car is hotter than an overn roasting a Thanksgiving turkey. The cold has nothing on the unrelenting heat.

There’s plenty of other little reasons, too: the schools are better here; we want to live a more urban life; we needed more space for our growing family; we want to try something new; Boston is a fun city. Ultimately, though, it comes down to one deniable belief we both share:

We want total and complete happiness in our private and professional lives; and we don’t want to settle for anything less.