Moving to Englewood, FL

I remember the first time driving over the drawbridge with my sister and feeling excited, it was the first thing I got a video of. There was an osprey that had a nest on the drawbridge traffic light and appeared to greet each car going over the bridge. The only other drawbridge town I’ve been to was Sunset Beach, North Carolina, where I met my boyfriend and that felt like a sign.

The next thing I captured was the “Welcome to Manasota Key” sign that was tucked way into the thick Florida foliage, if you blinked, you’d miss it. I remember thinking even then, what a small almost hidden sign for a vacation beach town. Now, after spending years here, the sign feels fitting. A low key hidden gem that stays tucked into mangroves and sea grapes. 

During my first trip to this area I found fossilized shark teeth, saw bay water actually glow for the first time and watched the sun set over The Gulf. I was hooked.

My boyfriend and I actually came here through work.

We lived here for a couple of years but had to move after Helene and Milton devastated the key. We were in this strange limbo. We had officially moved out of New Jersey to Florida and then were uprooted by 2 massive hurricanes. Right before Milton, we packed up our important belongings and evacuated the key.

We headed to the north Georgia mountains. The evacuation drive was long. The traffic was unreal. I had never seen gas stations running out of gas along the highway.

We decided to make light of it and spend a couple days with my boyfriend's family in a cabin to wait out the storm, thinking we'd be going back to the place we made our new home. But after watching the news, from hundreds of miles away, we had a looming feeling we wouldn’t be going back.

On our last day in Blue Ridge, we stopped in town at Huck's General Store. As we were walking the streets, I looked down and saw this little palm tree. It’s funny how little things turn into signs when you need them the most.

Once Milton made landfall we were heart broken, there was no going back. We were kind of floating as we tried to figure out what to do next. After Blue Ridge, we drove to Tennessee and stayed with family and then spent a day in Townsend on the River.

We eventually drove back to New Jersey after days of uncertainty. We felt out of whack for months. But luckily I have an amazing family who helped us in every way possible. Each day I dreamed of going back. We started looking for houses and finally found an old Florida cottage that stood out. 

The move back was even more exciting than the first move. We had a house. Something to look forward to, something to fix up and make our own. It finally felt like a future. 

I love my new small town and I can’t wait to share all my favorite parts of it and our little life in paradise.