03/01/2022
After spending more than 20 years working as a professional photographer in upstate New York, JFP has relocated to the sunshine state. To be specific, we have moved to Kissimmee, in Central Florida.
My wife Jeanette has wanted to live in Florida since she was a kid (she spent a lot of time here when she was little). I had never truly considered leaving NY before we met, and even after that I wasn't sure it would happen. That's such a big move and I don't love change. Besides, we had a business in NY. How could we leave that? We talked about it a lot and decided that maybe (just maybe) we would do someday in the distant future. To me, that was like a parent saying "we'll see." We all know what that really means. It's just a polite "it's never gonna happen."
COVID changed everything, though.
First, our business suffered terribly. Between cancelations, postponements and limited bookings, it was a terrible time to own our small business. It was the most stressful work experience I'd had in a long time. It was tough financially and emotionally.
Then, both Jeanette and I had a hard time with COVID. We had to have an ambulance come to the house for Jeanette late one night, and I ended visiting the hospital with COVID and pneumonia. When I left the hospital and recovered, I felt as though I had cheated death (I know that sounds dramatic, but there were two days where my body felt as though it was giving up). I owed it to myself and my family to take advantage of the fact that I was still breathing. We needed to live fully while we could. It was time to stop talking about our Florida dream and make it a reality.
So we did it. We left everything we knew in NY within six months and moved to our dream home in Florida. And now we wish we hadn't waited so darn long. We love the sunshine -- we spend a ton of time outside, in shorts! -- and the adventure that we are on as a family. Our daughter JJ tells us that she is a "Florida girl!”
Continued in the comments …
