Paradise Found
This June marked my first full year living in Port St. Lucie. In May, my partner Jason and I were able to execute our plan and buy a home in our newly adopted city. We rented for our first year, which allowed us to explore the nooks and crannies of PSL, along with its neighboring communities of Jensen Beach, Stuart and Fort Pierce. All of them have become regular haunts for us — whether for day trips, local shopping or nights on the town. After months of conducting my own exhaustive online search, during which I worked alongside our much beloved local Realtor, our dream home seemed to leap into our lap.
Our closing day and moving day were one and the same: a smidge stressful. But it was worth it. Purchasing our sweet little love nest together was a big step, as was the whole house hunting and moving process. As weeks became months, we continued to live amid a cache of cleansers and bunches of boxes, amounting to constant clutter and chaos. Despite the upheaval, neither of us would change a thing.
For starters, we adore our new abode, as does Bailey, our decidedly dogmatic dog. The three of us are cozy and content in the Key West-style dwelling that charmed the socks off us. And it happens to be in what’s turned out to be one of the friendliest neighborhoods I’ve ever encountered. There’s a true sense of community — we’ve been bowled over by everyone’s warmth here.
The rudeness, impatience, hostility and aggression that is par for the course in pretty much the rest of the world these days, thankfully hasn’t taken over the Treasure Coast. PSL and its environs feel like they’re an anomaly in 2024, when the world seems to be on fire with protests, rage, dissent, violence, war and death.
My new neighborhood is the polar opposite. It offers what I call “radical hospitality.” Here residents proactively cross the street to say hello and welcome newbies like us. Pretty much everyone we’ve met has bent over backwards to be obliging. Several friends have compared this phenomenon to The Truman Show. Indeed, it’s not dissimilar from Seahaven, Fla., the idealized fictional island paradise in the 1998 Jim Carrey movie, in which his life was filmed as a reality show, 24/7/365. While not filming a reality show we do feel like we discovered our utopia.
I’m thankful I get to call it home.
Whitney Joseph
See the original article in print publication
August 16, 2024
