Doing the Unimaginable during COVID: Buying and House and Moving to Providence

Doing the Unimaginable during COVID: Buying and House and Moving to Providence

Relocating in a Pandemic

Ronald Viafore

English

Ask anyone if they would sell a house, buy a new house and move from one location to another in the summer 2020 and they would say, "No Way" As much as I would agree with them, my family and I took the bull by the horns and made such a move. We moved from St. Augustine, Florida to Providence. At first we thought, this move should be somewhat easy...visit Providence, look at homes, decide on a home, pack up our belongings, hire a moving company and make the almost 1000 mile trek from Florida to Providence. We wish it were that easy. In the early summer of 2020, I accepted a job relocation to Providence. It was not a tough sell to leave Florida because New England was our "home" and my family and I were ready to return to our normal world of excellent schools, amazing cultural experiences and great food, parks, the mountains and even the ocean. Heading to Providence, where we decided to make our new home after checking many locations, was a bit nerve-wracking. ""Would we be turned back at the border because of COVID?" Would be have to quarantine even though we had negative tests before driving north?" "Where would we stay on the trek North as many hotels were closed" It was an experience to say the least because we made a few trips North to look at a home (that we saw online), go through a home inspection (especially for our 1885 Victorian on the East Side) and finally to close on our property. We never thought we would get here with COVID restrictions, but with great attorneys, realtors and friendly people, we landed in Providence in September 2020. This is our first time of actually living in a city proper and we loved that we could go out and walk everywhere and that is exactly what we did throughout the fall, winter and spring. We marveled at the city architecture, enjoyed the parks, and did our share to take out from the many excellent restaurants that were very accommodating. The fact that Providence remained "open" gave us the chance to see the city more intimately than we would have in normal times. We walked throughout the city sometimes doing 5-6 miles treks from our neighborhood to different areas of Providence. We met so many friendly people (all of us masked and socially-distanced) and immediately knew we made the right decision to move here (we spent most of our working careers and raising children in northwest Connecticut and in the Berkshires). As much as COVID restricted travel and entertainment, we took it upon ourselves to see the City and truly take our time examining building structures, tasting amazing foods, or just stop in at the local bookstore to browse through the many genres on the shelves. During COVID, we behaved like we were travelers exploring a new territory. In the short time we have been here we also did our best to embrace the New England feel that we so dearly missed while living in Florida for about 9 years.
So,,here's to you Providence...We are glad we are here. We encourage others to take a walk through the city, explore areas, look around and notice what you see and have a chat with those you meet. Florida was sunny and full of tourists, but Providence is the real thing!

May 5,2021