Moving here meant retiring from our once busy lives in both medicine and aviation. Not wanting to get back into the rat race, we used our large home and our talents to create a quieter and peaceful way of life. We created a 20-year plan.
For eleven years our place was a 4 Star B&B. It was fun…and a lot of work. Along with the B&B came the tour company, the travel agency, the transportation company, the nutrition company, and the consulting and design firm. We are a overachievers and this made sense--use what we have and what we are willing to learn to make things better. These businesses have all been small, home-based. They have been businesses that helped to create the life we have been living. Now we are ready to fully retire and we love to travel!
There's a nine year age difference between us. A few years ago this became a deciding factor in our plans to retire. As our plan evolved, we took a serious look at what it would mean to travel and live aboard for a long time. "When you're 60, I'll be 70. When you're 70, I'll be 80. Being in excellent health, it became more and more apparent that there was no reason to wait.
I've been "playing" the retirement life mostly alone for a few years now. I went on a four month world trip alone. That was fun and invigorating. I volunteer at a few local charities, and I got involved in local community theater. All the while Bobbie kept her part time job, more as a means of filling time, and the extra money has been going into our retirement fund. Earlier this year a series of everyday events happened, one right after the other that convinced us we were simply treading water.
We have a large sport boat that gave us a few mechanical surprises, some home repairs came out of nowhere and cost more than we imagined, Our B&B morphed into an traveling professional accommodation business and the thoughts on turning over another group of temporary tenants was daunting. On top of that a couple of minor health issues popped up and were quickly resolved.
All of this in such a short amount of time shook the trunk of our "reality tree." How much longer do we want to be ruled by the material and seemingly "important" everyday stuff? How much longer will our good health and energy last? Good questions. After some serious conversation, we decided that instead of waiting to start traveling in 2020, we're going to do it now. And so this story begins. .
.. .
I've been "playing" the retirement life mostly alone for a few years now. I went on a four month world trip alone. That was fun and invigorating. I volunteer at a few local charities, and I got involved in local community theater. All the while Bobbie kept her part time job, more as a means of filling time, and the extra money has been going into our retirement fund. Earlier this year a series of everyday events happened, one right after the other that convinced us we were simply treading water.
We have a large sport boat that gave us a few mechanical surprises, some home repairs came out of nowhere and cost more than we imagined, Our B&B morphed into an traveling professional accommodation business and the thoughts on turning over another group of temporary tenants was daunting. On top of that a couple of minor health issues popped up and were quickly resolved.
All of this in such a short amount of time shook the trunk of our "reality tree." How much longer do we want to be ruled by the material and seemingly "important" everyday stuff? How much longer will our good health and energy last? Good questions. After some serious conversation, we decided that instead of waiting to start traveling in 2020, we're going to do it now. And so this story begins. .
.. .
No comments:
Post a Comment