Long-term islanders offer long-term islanders a long-term island home

||| BY LIN MCNULTY, theORCASONIAN EDITOR |||

Following three months of desperate house hunting on Orcas Island, long-term islanders have offered long-term islanders a much-needed long-term island rental home.

When we were notified that our landlord had passed, and her children wanted to sell our home of 15 years, we had no idea that the search for new digs would take more than three months; in fact the three-month notice they kindly offered us was not enough time to find a rental on Orcas.

Days became weeks became months as we became more disheartened. We were offered a two-week extension before we needed to vacate. That’s when Olga residents Dan and Grace Gottlieb contacted us to offer their guesthouse/office. We had previously looked at only three houses on-island since March and we were days from expanding our search to mainland America, a frightening thought after being on island for over 30 years. Could I, in good conscience, continue to publish theOrcasonian from, for instance, a remote beach bungalow? That certainly didn’t seem community-minded.

Many islanders reached out with good thoughts and ideas, for which we are beyond grateful, and we will be moving next month to Olga. Phew!