That sounds great. Glad you bit the bullet and made the move. There’s something to be said for transitioning when still young enough to grow new roots. You say you are in that new warm-state community “most of the year”. Are the other times for travel and visiting family?
We have a vacation home in a northern state that we have owned a long time. Lessons learned there helped us research our main home now. (Beautiful area but too many airbnbs, transient population, lack of community resources and structure, way too much cold weather). We stay there as well as travel for vacations and visits to friends and family.
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My goal for this is year is to become more fluent in the language I spoke as a child (Croatian). The last time I worked on learning a language was in college (many moons ago). Last fall, I took Croatian for Travelers via Zoom. I enjoyed the class largely because the instructor offered lots of cultural information as well as language instruction. This year, she’s offering a comprehensive language course–grammar, vocabulary, etc. People in the class range in age from a 16-year old high school student to me (the only retiree in the class). Three of the six are of Croatian descent, the other two are married to Croatians and want to be able to speak/understand their in-laws. The high school student is just interested in languages. The grammar (there are often six ways to say the same thing) challenges my brain. What surprises me is that I’m able to remember lots of vocabulary–words I haven’t spoken in years.
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Our SIL is ‘rolling’ with his cyber security training and work (he will soon be 35) and will climb with salary once out of the Army. He keeps working on and passing various certifications. DD2’s BF (age 27) keeps getting ‘restart’ in sports management - but the hope is he will gain traction and higher position in current organization. Thankfully DD2 is taking a course soon (paid by her employer) for the second exam to become a PE in engineering - I’m not sure if it will be structural or another area she is in, civil or architectural. DD1 is at great career level and pay, just having to dual engage with adding their 5th child in March (oldest turns 7 in May). Some of our ‘life in retirement’ is walking alongside our young family members - and ‘being there’ for advice and support when asked. DD2 has invited us for Easter, so have to let DD1 know about the plan for time with our return from her place after scheduled baby baptism. Best for me to plan my round trip flight and take advantage of better pricing (or points use) for round trip.
Kudos for using your expertise and networking to jump on climate change, AI, helping young folks with career advice, and being very engaged.
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Well, I’m brutally honest about it. I have LOTS of friends who feel the same, so I know I’m not necessarily alone in this thinking. It’s biological. As far as the topic and divorce, I agree it’s quite vital for many men and a happy marriage, that’s why I do the best I can to keep it healthy in my marriage. But I could do without it quite easily.
If my husband passes before me…I’m done.
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I always say that if my H goes first, I’m too old to train a new one. My grandma was widowed in her 60’s, and she had several good friends who were also widows. They did things together & truly enjoyed life. I think I’d be much more likely to play canasta and drink crème de menthe with my lady friends (as grandma did) than to hit the dating websites. But I hope that those days are a long way off, and who knows what life will bring.
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An MSW takes two years and should train a grad to counsel individuals, couples and families under supervision. Many, many reputable graduate schools of social work programs grant degrees in fully remote programs although one or both of the academic-year-long internships may require some in-person presence.
This is so interesting to me, because we moved 7 times in the first 10 years of marriage and I never, ever, ever want to move again. Not ever. We are also not super-secure about making new friends and that would intimidate me so much! So I admire your initiative!
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A couple of interesting articles relative to retirement
I became aware of that over time. Had I been aware of my options in 1979/1980, but I was always interested in business and pursued (and obtained) graduate degrees (and work) using a combination of my skills/background. My career was quite good in the 1990’s, but then being SAHM and then battling cancer, then sunset career.
One of my book club members is a counselor (and director of the center) - she gets really emotionally spent with the job. She is a bit younger than me, and now has a grandson (DD/SIL live 100 miles away), so her interests are growing with being a grandma. She gives some good perspectives on some of our books, and insights from her profession.
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We are going to Asia soon too! Please share recommendations (we are cruising starting in HK ending in Singapore, visiting Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand).
We have toured with Trafalgar and with Micato (they only do Africa and India). Micato is top notch. Second (backup) choice was Abercrombie and Kent.
Some folks like gate 1. I’ve not used them. I didn’t find their reviews to be good.
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Next month, I’m traveling to Hong Kong, along with Macau, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Penang. Later this year, I plan to spend a couple of weeks in Japan. In recent years, we’ve often visited Europe and South America, so this time, I’m excited to return to Asia.
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Is that with Celebrity? We had booked a similar cruise last year with our kids, but ended up cancelling, hence the trip this year. I found getting the Vietnamese visa was a bit of a pain, spent many hours last year doing it, but this year I figured it out. I’m sure you’ll have a blast!
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No we are on Seabourn. They told us we can get the visas on the ship.
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Nice, Seabourn, so much better than Celebrity! Celebrity told us that we could get the Vietnam visas on the ship, but we checked CruiseCritic roll calls and it looked like no, we couldn’t get them on the ship, we had to get an e-Visa. Scenic also told us to get an e-Visa for our Vietnam visas via a link they sent. They said we would get the Cambodia visas onboard the ship, which checks out with CruiseCritic. Sounds like Seabourn has you covered.
Have you checked out CruiseCritic roll call for your cruise? It’s nice to meet people virtually before you leave, meet up with them onboard and book shore excursions with them.
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I have! and also, there is a facebook group. The Cruise critic app no longer works (but i have joined). I have enjoyed the roll call groups previously.
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We’ve been retired for almost 15 years - yikes! We retired young(ish).
We have paid for two bachelor’s degrees and one wedding in retirement. We are almost free lol. I don’t feel like it’s “me” time yet because both young adults still need some parenting, including one navigating a cross-country move after graduation.
I had a long, complicated falling out with my church within the last couple years so that left a hole I filled with a cat, haha. But seriously, I have thought about joining another one and realized I just don’t have it in me to deal with more of the personality conflicts and politics that led to my ouster/leaving. So for now, I’m doing nothing in that area.
I putter, I clean and organize, I help my kids. No big plans on the horizon except some new appliances eventually.
We are charter members of the Boring Retiree Club 
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H & I happily belong to that group!
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This sounds like what we’re looking for in retirement. We’re tired of cold and snow but are very active and don’t necessarily want a retirement community (though a golf cart community I could get behind!). May I ask what state you’re in and if you also kept your original home? We’re concerned with spending summers in super hot/humid climates as we’ve been in dry mountain air for 20 years.
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