A few years ago, I remember my boss Ted tentatively passing on a question from our mutual boss Lindsey: Would I ever consider moving to Michigan? At the time I was a remote employee of my team living in my native state of Florida. I’d joined my company in one role, then been in the right place at the right time to get the role with Lindsey’s team. Things were going well on her team and I was travelling more and more to get some in-person time with the rest of the team in Michigan, and to join in various meetings and events.

I liked Michigan and the experience of being at headquarters, but I unequivocally answered Ted that I couldn’t consider moving. My father’s health was continuing to deteriorate due to the progression of his Parkinson’s disease, and my mother was under increasing stress as his sole caregiver. As an only child, and living next door to my parents, I couldn’t imagine leaving them by themselves. I’d been living on the five acres next to the ten I’d grown up on (where my parents still live) for over a decade, and I thought I’d be there till I was too old to care for myself. The house had been my grandmother’s; I’d purchased it from her estate when she passed. At the time, leaving was almost incomprehensible.

Last week, on August 22nd, 2023, my friend April sent me this screenshot, from her Facebook memories.

Because as has happened more than once, life made a fool of me. “I’ll never… I’ll always,” are words my foolish old self used to use. At some point, the thought of moving to Michigan took hold in my mind like a tiny seed, and it grew slowly but steadily. Then I found myself telling my mom I was thinking of moving, and then I was telling her that I was going. The team in Michigan still wanted me, and now I wanted to go.

So in late February of 2020, HR drew up the paperwork, and I signed my transfer letter in early March of 2020. Then the world changed. Suddenly every plan anyone on the planet had made was put on hold, and the future became a black hole that none of us could see into. So the plans that I’d agonized for months over were frozen. I said yes and life said no. So I waited.

I’d retained a realtor to sell my Florida home, and I had viewed a few homes in early March with a realtor in Michigan. Now I had to keep telling both of them that I was holding off a little longer. Would there still be a company for me to work for? Would I have a job? Would any of us have a job?

That was a long, dark spring and early summer for me. My home in Florida was rural, so now that I was working at home full time, the only people I saw were my parents. I sat outside a lot, I went for walks in the woods alone. I felt so isolated. I was a contributing part of the statistic showing the increase in alcohol consumption. I participated in Zoom happy hours. I was not anything close to happy. I’d emotionally checked out, made my decision, and was ready to go, but couldn’t.

In June of 2020, I was talking to my teammate Tony, and he and his wife April graciously offered to host me for a week at their home in Michigan. I had to get away. I was alone, I was lonely, and I needed to get out of Florida for a bit, back up to what would have already been my new home had the world not changed.

So in July I put on a mask, put my bike in a box, and flew to Michigan. I remember it was very hot, too hot. I had been looking forward to leaving the hideous Florida summer behind, and I seemed to have brought it with me. Still, April suggested one day that we take our bikes and just go look around. The first thing they’d done when I arrived was take me out in their convertible Mustang and show me the area. We rolled into Rochester and I remember thinking what a cute town it was. Florida doesn’t have old, cute Midwestern-like downtowns, rows of stores and restaurants with people on the sidewalks. I was enamored with it immediately. We drove through the modest old neighborhoods and I remarked that I would love to live there.

The first day April and I went rolling around on our bikes, we came down my street and saw a for sale sign. We poked around and I called my realtor, and he set up a showing. Oddly, April and Tony had looked at the house many years ago as a rental, but it wasn’t big enough for their needs. But after looking at a few other homes, and touring this one twice, I thought it was perfect. So, although my Florida house was not yet on the market, and this had definitely not been in my plans for this trip, I put in an offer, and the next day it was accepted.

My house in Florida sold within days of listing, and next thing I knew I was calling for mover quotes. After months of waiting, everything was suddenly in motion.

The day of leaving was hard. I flew April down to Florida first class, as she had amazingly offered to make the drive with me and my cats. My dear friend Angela came the day before and helped me finish up packing as well. I rented a minivan and bought some pet crates, and after an ill-rested night, the movers were there, putting the boxes of my life into a truck, and April and I were putting my dear furry creatures into a van.

Strong and supportive as she is, my mom was bereft, and although I thought I’d made my peace with it, I was sobbing by the time we pulled out of their driveway to head for my new home. I didn’t know if I was seeing my father for the last time. Going to my future as I had to, saying goodbye to everything that was my life was incredibly sad.

That drive was hell and I cannot recommend it. Seventeen-plus hours, straight through because I had a car full of very unhappy cats and one distressed rabbit, plus me poorly rested and emotionally wrung out. I wouldn’t have made it without April, who was a rock for me. She forever earned a place in my personal hall of fame for that trip.

We pulled into the driveway of my new home on August 22nd, 2020. Tony met us with a new gravity water bottle for the cats, the biggest one I’d ever seen, designed as an enormous Mason jar. It’s still in use in my kitchen. We brought the pets in, my friends left, and I was here. I was home.

That was three years ago, and even though I was confident in my decision at the time, I couldn’t have known how my life would improve.

I can now say, without a doubt, that my life has never been better. I live in a wonderful house on a beautiful street. I have awesome neighbors who welcomed me and became dear friends. I learned new hobbies like snowboarding and ice hockey and made more friends as a result. The summers are beautiful and the winters are not as bad as any of my Florida friends would think, especially since I enjoy snow sports. I always have something to do, my heart is happy and my life is full.

I know I’ve been extremely fortunate in my life. I’ve managed to be in the right place, at the right time, known the right people, and made the right choices that brought me to this precise moment. I listened to the universe’s subtle nudges, and I’ve always found myself pointed towards the sun.

Recently, I met a man who I’d hoped would come into my life, but I never really believed in the existence of. But again I listened as the universe whispered, and now he is here, and my wonderful life is even more wonderful.

There was a time in my life where even on the sunniest, warmest day, it was dark. I didn’t want to be here, among the struggling living. I didn’t want to fight any more against the thoughts in my head and the emptiness in my heart. I didn’t see fortune. I saw a future of only bleakness, no hope in sight.

There is a song with a lyric of “anything can happen.” Not being willing to give up completely back in those dark days, that became a mantra of mine. Let’s just see about tomorrow. After all, anything can happen. Now I’m here, and yes, anything can happen. Anything great.

There is another phrase I ran across in a comic of all places: Nothing meant for you shall pass you by. I was so affected by that phrase that I wrote it on a sticky note right away, and put it on my bathroom mirror. Then a couple of years ago I had it made into a custom wooden sign which hangs in my bedroom across from my bed as a constant reminder.

Anything can happen, and nothing meant for me shall pass me by. If it all ended tomorrow, if all became tragedy, I could not have been happier or more thankful today. I listened to the whispers, I obeyed the nudges, and I am here, heart and life full, ready for anything to happen.