My Dad lives alone in Charlotte, NC.  He will be 84 years old in August.  He is in great physical shape, and walks for miles every day.  I laughingly say “he still thinks he can lift refrigerators”, and he probably can.  He bought himself a computer several years ago, and has become quite adept at making his own airline reservations, sending funny mail messages, stopping the mail when he leaves town, and ordering his underwear online. 

I’ve been trying to talk Dad into moving closer to us, since Mom’s death in 2008.  It is a 4-hour trip from Atlanta to Charlotte, and the current price of gas makes the trip seem longer!  He has refused.  He doesn’t want to intrude on our limited space in Atlanta, and doesn’t want to live where it’s almost impossible to drive.  Sadly, I can’t argue with either point.

Dad does, however, love the Georgia mountains, and so do we.  We spend lots of time up there, frequenting the Dahlonega wineries, and exploring new areas.  For the last few years, we have rented a friend’s mountain house in Cleveland, GA to spend Thanksgiving weekends.  Their property has a tributary of the Chattahoochee River running through it; sitting on their enormous back deck, and listening to the water rushing by, is pure heaven.

Thus, we convinced Dad that he should find a place he likes in the mountains.  That way, he would only be 1-1/2 hours from us in Atlanta, and only an hour from Jennifer and her family.  He agreed to look.

 In January of this year, I contacted Bill, a realtor in Blue Ridge, GA.  A property that I had found online seemed like a good place to begin our search.  We met Bill at the appointed spot on a bitterly cold and snowy Saturday, and ended up looking at 2 houses.  Dad fell in love with a foreclosure in a golf community in Ellijay, but later revealed to us that he wasn’t in a position to make an offer, due to health concerns.

My Dad has cancer.  He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in December of 2010, but never told anyone.  His doctor prescribed a grueling regimen of “chemo from a bottle”.  This treatment has serious side effects.  There are no guarantees it will work.  He has no immediate family in Charlotte.  Greg and I live 4 hours away.  My sister lives in Connecticut. 

What to do???

Next:  A Mountain Home