Packing It In

The moving van loads up Tuesday morning. By this time next week we will be climbing back into our Budget Rental Truck after a night in Memphis, and heading to our next stop - Oklahoma City. The movers will be somewhere on the road too, headed toward Prescott.

The last five weeks have been...grueling. We dismantled our Chicago home and packed it up, box by box. Weeks of organizing, sorting, shredding, decision-making, donating, folding, wrapping, reaching, lifting, stacking, etcetera, are now over. Exhausted, both emotionally and physically, I expect the road trip to Arizona to be a little mind-clearing.

Our condo has been rented to a very nice couple in their early thirties. I’m tickled to see that they are so excited to move in and establish themselves here. We have been happy on Bittersweet Place, and we hope they will be too. Having a signed lease and a security deposit is a relief. The real estate market in Chicago will bounce back eventually, but for now at least our investment will pay for itself via the monthly rental fee. We’ll test the market again a few years down the road.

Chicago, we squeezed in as much fun as we could during the last few weeks. We had close encounters with several local Top Chefs, went to the theater twice, ate at our favorite neighborhood haunts, shopped downtown for our trip, and even played a few rounds of golf at Waveland. I know Chicago isn’t going anywhere – but we are.

Here we come, Prescott! We hope to arrive on Saturday the 14th, just in time for the wine tasting at the club. It will be wonderful to see our friends, enjoy the sun, hack our way around the golf course, and relax in our Talking Rock home.

The next phase of our lives is about to begin.

The Weird Science of "Stuff"

Newton developed Three Laws of Motion.  George Carlin had a comedic routine about “Stuff”.  Somehow the two of them missed what seems to be a corollary about the science of stuff.  Here it is:  “The stuff you accumulate grows in direct proportion to the amount of space you have in which to house it.” 

Here’s the problem with that fact.  We have two homes, and are preparing to downsize to one.  We will soon be faced with figuring out how to deal with 4,000 square feet of stuff in 2,000 square feet. Obviously, the only way to do this is to get rid of a bunch of stuff.  We did this in 2008 when we moved from our large home in Memphis to the smaller condo in Chicago.  It was brutal.  We gave things away, we sold stuff, and we threw away mountains of crapola.  One would think we would have learned some sort of lesson.  Yet here we are, about to embark on the same journey of angst over stuff.

Accumulation happens innocently enough as a result of living in two homes.  You want to make a meatloaf, and have no meatloaf pan.  You start playing golf but have no clothes appropriate for the course dress code.  Furniture from Chicago can’t be moved to Prescott while we are spending months at a time in both places.  So now we have “enough” to be comfortable in each home – which means we have too much.

We know how to do this.  Furniture not destined for Prescott will be sold or given away.  Old paperwork will be shredded.  Clothes that don’t fit or haven’t been worn lately will be bagged and taken to the Salvation Army.  But which dishes and glasses will we keep?  What chains of bondage to sentimental items will we have the strength to break?  How completely can we embrace the next chapter of our lives without being hampered by moving too much stuff?

It’s painful to dismantle a comfortable home built over the years.  But I believe the more we look ahead rather than behind, the happier we can be with our lives.  I want people and love around me.  The “stuff” I can leave behind.

Anybody need a meatloaf pan?

Deciding Where to Settle Down for Retirement

A treasured friend of mine recently sent me an email looking for my opinions about his list of possible retirement locales. He is a successful surgeon who is having trouble imagining his life after retirement. The request he sent, punctuated by, “C’mon Runaway Boomer, don’t let me down!” not only made me laugh, but got me thinking about how to approach the big decision about where to retire in a systematic fashion.

It’s very important to try to visualize how you want life to unfold once you are free from a career that absorbs most of your time and energy. What are the things you would do more of, if you only had time? Many look forward to having the freedom to spend more time socializing with friends and family. Others dream of travel and exploration. For some, it will be a time for more physical action and creativity. You may have thoughts about pursuing a second career, or volunteering in your community. This visualization step requires some pleasant introspection over a period of time.

Picking a geographic location can be complicated. First, consider that you may not need or want to move at all! If you already have a great social situation and the support of friends and family nearby, do you really want to start over in a new place? Or does your soul yearn for the beauty of the mountains or beach and a new beginning? Here are some practical suggestions for going about narrowing down your list of possible locations:

• Start taking short vacations (even 3-4 days) to check out places that you think you might be interested in. Make an appointment with a realtor to take you around, so you can get a feel for housing and neighborhoods available.
• Pick up magazines like "Where to Retire" or “Money”. They do nice profiles of towns and highlight different aspects for consideration, like cost of living, healthcare, taxes, etc.
• You can think about your post-working life in phases. If you decide to buy somewhere, it doesn't have to be forever – it may merely be your next chapter.
• See if you can narrow your options a bit... Mountains, desert, coastal, urban? All have their own beauty, but are all very different.
• Make a list of what you definitely want in a home... Single family or condo, # of bedrooms/baths, view, fireplace, garage, porch or patio, single level or 2-story, etc. This will help you when you work with a realtor, and also help you visualize how you want to live.
• Browse home sales websites for different locales so you can get an idea of what is available and see what places look like.
• Go visit friends in different areas so they can introduce you to what it's like to really live somewhere.
• Look at official websites of cities and town. Email requests for visitor and/or relocation guides. Most places offer them for free.

One more important thought… Be open to surprises changing your plan. My husband and I visited Prescott, Arizona a year and a half ago because it kept popping up on lists of good places to retire. It was love at first sight, and we bought a home in Talking Rock Ranch (SURPRISE: two years earlier than planned), on a golf course (SURPRISE: we had never discussed this before), and making scores of lovely friends (SURPRISE: an amazing bonus to buying into a community). We are having the time of our lives.

Enjoy your decision-making process. It’s a luxury to have the freedom to create your own grand plan.

What "Moves" Me

I’ve read several stories about people relocating in retirement to their dream location – only to move back “home” within a year or two. What some find is that starting over in a new town is challenging. They miss their friends and their comfortable routines…favorite restaurants, stores they recognize, the place they built over time in the familiar community.

Many of us have dreams about where we would live if it weren’t for the constraints of jobs, family, or money. Dreams are great; in fact I believe they are important to creating a happy life. But introspection and planning are important too. And we should always leave a little room for serendipity.

I’m one of those odd birds who like change. I grew up in Maryland and went to college and started my career in the Chicago area. Over the years, Hilton moved me to Dallas (where Ron and I met), to Las Vegas, and then to Memphis. When we retired in 2008, we moved to Chicago. In the spring of 2010 we bought a house in Prescott, AZ. One of our friends recently referred to us as “rolling stones”. We’ve loved the adventures moving has brought to our lives. In each location, we reveled in exploring, meeting people, establishing our routines, and making a place to live into a home.

When we have moved in the past, the most difficult changes to face were dismantling our home, and leaving friends behind. That’s when you feel keenly what is really important. But the reality is that we have confidence that we can make a home wherever we choose. Our families are spread around the country, and so are our friends. Reunions are sweet, special events.

What moves me these days is the continued joy we get in becoming intimate with our adopted city of Chicago, the awe of exploring the natural wonders that the Prescott area has to offer, and interacting with all of the people close to us.

It was particularly moving and joyful to ring in the New Year at Talking Rock Ranch with our friends in Prescott. What a pleasure to look around the room and see all the happy faces, to accept greetings, hugs and kisses, and to wriggle around the dance floor in a celebration of life. Hello 2011! I think YOU ROCK!