Peter and I have decided to go home.

Uprooting our lives of more than fifty years in Massachusetts has been a bigger challenge than we imagined.  We were sure that moving south to live near our grandchildren was right for us at this stage in our lives.  We knew that the Washington days are longer, that the winters are milder, and that there are wonderful cultural institutions and great natural beauty nearby.

What we didn’t know was how much we would miss our friends, our activities, our familiarity with the geography of Boston and the driving habits of Bostonians.  We miss our grocery stories with their easy parking lots.  We particularly miss our doctors.  We miss Symphony Hall and the Red Sox.  It’s not possible to create new friendships in months that come close to old friendships of decades.

We know that we are not going back to our house or our neighborhood.  And that’s OK.  We are aware that at our age, there are good reasons to be near our children.  But while we are still able to be on our own, we want to be where we have been most of our lives.

So get ready Massachusetts, we’re coming home.