Post 1223, Day 184 of 2014
- 1,280 days since I started this blog -
- 1,280 days since I started this blog -
That has been important to my family, since in all the history I can remember, I am the only member of the family who embraced travel as positive process.
When I was very young, I always looked forward to my parents driving to Brooklyn to visit relatives (they almost all lived in Brooklyn). I can't ever think of a time when I didn't find this a wondrous, exciting and joyful adventure.
Later, I found out they felt these visits were obligatory, and there was occasional resentment (the most useless emotion). They were also somewhat one-sided (my father had a lot more relatives), although I have no sense that they were exclusive - but I didn't see my mother's relatives nearly as much.
And I got that sense of maintaining personal relationships as an obligation, but it was one I never minded - in fact, I embraced it.
I have (nearly) always been the one to travel and visit family and friends. Not that there's been no reciprocation, but long ago I accepted that I would , if I wanted to see someone, have to go to them. It seemed to bother me less than it did others. I was willing, and I accepted the hassle and expense of travel, because I felt more than compensated by spending time breathing the same air as the people I love.
When I think about my retirement in the not-too-distant future, this fact informs my plans. There being no central location with good access to all my family and friends, if I want to continue to see them regularly, I will have to travel. I will certainly have the time, but I have to look at the means.
Even co-locating in New York City, where most of my friends are, wouldn't solve the problem of visiting my son, sister, and friends spread out over the rest of the country, so the cost of retired living will determine how much money I will have for travel.
It is one of the things that drove me to look outside the US for retirement living - the low cost of living will enable me to spend more time with more of my family and friends than the higher costs of living in the US would.
If I pick the right spot, it may entice some of them to visit me. No matter where that is, I know it is unlikely. Almost nobody has visited me in Syracuse, and I can count my visitors during my twenty-three years living in the same house in North Carolina on the fingers of one hand.
Looking back, I think this may sound like a complaint, and it is not meant that way. I can't remember a single time I didn't feel any effort made to hang out with my brother, sister, son or friends, all across the country, was less than worthwhile.
No regrets at all.
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Food and Diet Section
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| 2014 Daily Weight |
Previous Weight: 208.6 lbs
Day Net Loss/Gain: + 1.8 lbs
Diet Comment
I thought I ate moderately and well yesterday, but I think the high-sodium lunch undid me. Today ended without a different story.Diet Comment
Food Log
Breakfast
Lunch
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| Omelet with parmesan cheese, sauteed baby kale, baby spinach and chard with onions. peppers and tomato-garlic oil; bacon. |
A Quest bar.
Early Dinner
A burger with guacamole on Ezekiel 4:9 toast and quinoa and lentil pilaf in butter sauce.
A burger with Dubliner cheese and cheddar white bean tortilla chips (no grains) and a Quest bar.
Liquid Intake
Coffee: 28 oz. Water: 124+ oz. A glass of Merlot.
Please leave a comment if you visit my blog. Thank you!
A suggestion for how to resolve this dilemma. Let me know if it works.
ReplyDeleteHow much actual face-time do you want/need/can stand with the individual family/friends? Divide between west coast time required and east coast actual face-time required Then consider the cost of traveling from west to east and from east to west to achieve the greater face-time. You can afford to live anywhere that you want, assuming that you will make the appropriate lifestyle changes.
Love, andy
There is more to it than quantifying face-time. You have to also look at scheduling - the fact that I only want to see someone for a few hours doesn't mean that I get only that time, or that the time is consecutive, or that I can, when I see him or her, limit the time to two hours, or that I can schedule all the time I want to be with someone at a time that is convenient for us both, and convenient to seeing other friends immediately before and after. Still, it would be a way to quantify and decide on a retirement location.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, visiting time is just one factor. Lifestyle is another; and I'm not looking to make too many changes in that direction - and I don't want money to be a limiting factor. It may turn out to be, but my list is full of choices that would allow me the freedom to go on living as I currently do (and maybe better - we'll see), on a budget that doesn't deprive me of anything I need or want, and leaves me plenty of money to travel.
The main thing is, I don't have a good feel for what life will be like when it isn't anchored by the need to earn a living. I just don't know how I'll react to that, and I want to take some time to figure it out. My plans may come to nothing; I may find I miss living in the US more than I think I will, I may meet someone who gives me an alternative I find irresistible, I may get too ill to travel --- there are countless ways that this plan, such as it is, could come off the rails. We'll see. I think I'm up for adventure, for self-discovery, for new perspectives and vistas. I may be right or wrong.
We're just going to let it unfold however it does.