After the loss of my wife, Annie, in December of 2020, I soon realized my world was about to change. Those closest to me would no longer be close by. Julie and husband Jack live in Asheville, NC. Laura and husband Greg were relocating to Atlantic Beach, NC. My options, mountains or the sea.

      Area most familiar to me is coastal, so we began to investigate housing suitable for “independent living” in Atlantic Beach, Beaufort and Morehead City. We concluded that an apartment was my best option and added my name to a couple of waiting lists. I had been challenged with vertigo for over a year with occasional returns. These upsets are a concern and thought I should consider the availability of “assisted living”. Two in Morehead City are Brookdale and Carteret Landing. Carteret Landing is the newest, about 8 years old and at the time involved a waiting list.

     Since my decision had already been made to vacate Smithfield, I decided to make a trial stay at Brookdale which would allow me to get familiar with traffic patterns and experience the area. My stay at Brookdale was three months. In late July I was offered a room with kitchenette at Carteret Landing. Laura and I visited the room and its location within the facility before committing. It was a “go”.

      Of this writing, April of 2024, my stay here at Carteret Landing has been safe, comfortable(my own furniture) and the food is adequate and tasteful. There is an activity director that provides for daily exercise and entertainment. The residents are friendly and experienced(mostly upper 80s and early 90s). The friendly staff provides for all of our needs and is anxious to go the “extra mile”.

      So here I am at 95. No knowledge of serious health issues so it’s just day by day. In my case, I have the advantage of a “companionship”, one of the female residents who is a retired schoolteacher from Elizabeth City, NC. She will turn 95 in September. She is challenged with sight(glaucoma) and moderate memory loss. We dine together for lunch and dinner, see movie’s together, walk together and rock with others on the porches. Objective, don’t outlive your money.💰 As my aunt Gretchen always said, “Save a bullet for me.” 🤭🙄😂

To help to pass the time, I decided to establish a personal website which would require me to freshen up on the HTML coding required to support a domain name.

      I wished to create a domain name that would be simple, short and relevant. Took several tries before I was successful. The domain name: MIKEYIS.ME which is a derivative of Mickey and Mike. Several people called me “Mikey” over the years.

      My pre-paid domain name fee and hosting server is covered for a period of 2 years before an extension will be required. We’ll see who expires first, race is on! ENOUGH !!