Goodbye, Yustega

Jimmy and I were living at our farm in north Florida in April 2007 when he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, and from that time on, nothing has ever been the same.  When we closed the door to Yustega, when we left to go to Atlanta to fight Jimmy's cancer, we didn't realize that we were also closing the door on that part of our life for good. It has just taken us a long time to admit it.

All this time, a fine young man, Jason, has lived in the caretaker's cottage on the property and looked after things.  When he told us this spring that he was getting married and moving away, we knew it was time to pull the plug. We listed Yustega for sale in late April with a group out of Thomasville that specializes in this type of property, and the very next week, the first people they showed it to wanted it.

We've had to go through the usual inspection period, make some repairs, jump through all the real estate hoops you have to jump through, but we did, and it was finalized today.  No regrets.  We loved it, we had a ball creating it together, we made some great memories, but it's past time to turn the page and let somebody else enjoy it.

We are very happy with the new owners, a young couple from Jacksonville with three children, that are buying it as a second home.  He is a hedge fund manager and she is a doctor. They bought a LOT of the furnishings, but of course, pack rat that I am, I had to keep a lot of it, too.

Last week the mover Deon Crenshaw brought a truckload of paintings and rugs and things I'm too sentimental about to part with to Highlands. I'm finally about to get it all straight, and now we can move on to another project. Like painting, I hope.