<p>So what is your dream after you pay all the college bills for the kiddies?
For me, I guess it is going on a World Tennis Tour- like to see Wimbledon, the French Open, Australian Open. Hus. and I would go to see all the qualifying matches. I would love that, and to see the sites too. I kind of know what it is like to be’ in the zone’, and do appreciate a good shot, and seeing these marvelous young ‘machines’ perform . What a blast! Do you think I will have my dream? What is yours?</p>
<p>and grad school is paid for? and wedding is paid for? not sure I want to look ahead!</p>
<p>By the time my youngest is out of college it will be 2019!! My dream is to be alive, alert, and ambulatory!!</p>
<p>No dreams? Too bad.</p>
<p>You know something, I’m going to have my dream. God has been good to me, 2 of 4 down, I can feel it in my bones!!</p>
<p>SBMom, I’m in your situation as well…by the time my youngest is out, it’ll be time to check in to the local retirement village…argh!</p>
<p>Good for you, backhandgrip. Actually, I should have guessed your dream from your screen name. </p>
<p>My dream is to be able to do my own genealogy research, sitting in dusty little backrooms, carefully examining crackly, yellowed wills and land lot registers, in places like Birmingham Alabama, or Pendleton, SC. Research that pays nothing, earns nothing, and doesn’t produce major insights into history; but produces the little tiny pieces of information about unknown people who, like the descendant, just raised her kids the best she could, voted, planted flowers, and lived.</p>
<p>Ah, I can’t wait.</p>
<p>My dream: S becomes famous and rich and supports his old Mom and Pop in a decent style!!!</p>
<p>Actually, my dreams are kind of simple:</p>
<p>a. No more pets!</p>
<p>b. Be able to drive back up to Alaska on the Alaska Highway (one of our favorite adventures) without a deadline for when we have to get back.</p>
<p>c. Be able to devote more time to the no-profit org I work with, and even begin to work with others (maybe even internationally)</p>
<p>d. A 6-month lease on a restored crofter’s hut on the Isle of Mull (one of our favorite, favorite, favorite get-away places) <a href=“http://www.dwrobertson-photography.com/gal_Isle_mull.asp[/url]”>http://www.dwrobertson-photography.com/gal_Isle_mull.asp</a></p>
<p>e. A cure for my addiction to that &*%# CC-site.</p>
<p>live on a sailboat for a while…in the Caribbean…go without shoes for so long that my feet will take on a new shape and never fit into my corporate pumps again…</p>
<p>Uh…this will be after my D graduates in 2020. (sigh)</p>
<p>Mine is to build the lake house on the water front property we just bought. When that happens will depend on state vs private and the finaid packages to come yet. We shall see…</p>
<p>Take a first-class train trip across Canada.
</p>
<p>After kids done with undergrad and grad school maybe H will retire, and I’d do the same. Then I’d like to live 6-12 months in a Manhattan apartment. Be a New Yorker for awhile. Do east coast stuff. Maybe live without a car. Go to tons of baseball games. Perhaps return for 6-12 months to the NW or near wherever our kids be. Then live 6-12 months in Chicago and be a midwesterner for awhile. Go to tons of baseball games. Somewhere in there I’d like to travel abroad (never been- but kids have).</p>
<p>Since I don’t have time to put off my dream this means I need a NOW dream. My fantasy is to take my 2 younger sons and H & go to a foriegn country for a year and learn the language. I deam of living in Rome because I love to say “Va Bene!” and “Prego.” It would be fun to speak Italian.</p>
<p>I am already beginning to live my dream: Showing my Great Danes and working towards establishing my own kennel and breeding lines.</p>
<p>I’ve already ridden my bicycle across the USA, so I’m hoping for several things after the undergrad tabs are paid (I’m not on the hook for anything past that):
(1) retire as soon as possible.
(2) hike the length of the Appalachian Trail.
(3) follow the Tour de France one summer.
(4) train for and complete an Olympic-distance triathlon.
(5) open and run a bed & breakfast, but not one that has to be a source of income, one that visitors love and that will be a labor of love; preferably in a college town.
(6) volunteer somewhere meaningful for most of a year, giving back to others.
(7) watch my sons grow and learn and give some great things to the world; play with some grandbabies someday.
(8) retain enough of my health, strength, and faculties to enjoy all of the above.</p>
<p>There, those are good dreams for me.</p>
<p>BHG:</p>
<p>I calculate it will be another 10 years before S#2 is out of undergrad and grad school, and 15-20 years before I pay off two loads of tuition. I’m hoping I don’t go straight into a retirement community when that happens!</p>
<p>It will be 2012 (if that!) before younger one is out of college. At that point, hubby and I will be turning 62 and close to retirement, if not in it!</p>
<p>Would love to take advantage of the opportunity to travel at ANY time of the year (not just school vacations!) </p>
<p>Want to visit the kids wherever they are at THEIR homes - have THEM host US! :-)</p>
<p>Perhaps trade in the house on an acre in suburbia (and at least one car) for an urban condo and be able to walk everywhere – but I would miss my gardens, so maybe not just yet.</p>
<p>Do some part-time and/or volunteer work in several areas of interest.</p>
<p>Read, go out to shows on weeknights, resume playing an instrument and perhaps join a musical group, …</p>
<p>Perhaps, if it’s in the cards at that point or more likely thereafter, listen to older child (D, who will then be six years out of college) about how tough it is being a parent – and smile indulgently, and offer occasional relief.</p>
<p>Hopefully, keep up with kids’ friends and their parents – but have other new and old friends as well.</p>
<p>digmedia - I checked out the link you posted. Can I share your dream spot ? The Isle of Mull looked fantastic. It’s now on my list of top 5 places to go - and 3 of the others were already in Scotland !</p>
<p>hayden-</p>
<p>I can imagine that many people would dislike the Isle of Mull: It rains a lot and there is zero “nightlife.” But if you like scenic beauty and like to hike (yes, sometimes in the rain), it’s great. You will definitely need a rental car to see the place, and you’ll learn the fine art of driving single track roads (with occasional passing places). Things not to miss: walking around the Isle of Iona (a quick ferry ride away from the far end of Mull), the Isle of Staffa (a couple of commercial boats will take you - the landing on Staffa can sometimes be an adventure if “there’s a swell up”), finding the deserted town ruins left from the Highland Clearances (no signs, not too easy to find, half-mile walk from the road), a visit to Carsaig Bay (over the mountain on a single track road that does NOT seem to have passing places), and from Carsaig: a mile or so walk to the right to see Nun’s Cave and a great hike to the left toward Loch Buie (about 5 miles or so - best to have someone else with a car and leave one at Loch Buie). Tobermory is a great town for photos. But in general, Mull would be considered a very “sleepy” place. Not too far away, also do not miss a few days on the Isle of Skye. Favorite activity there: renting a small boat from Dunvegan Castle and going out to the small islands with the seal colonies. Our place to stay there is a tiny little place on the far end of the island called Duntolm Castle Hotel (the castle is a nearby ruin). Also take a hike in the Cuillen Hills. </p>
<p>Anyway, I could go on and on. But I do recommend research and more research and know some of the things you want to see before you go and when you’re there, ASK people about what else to see and do.</p>
<p>With two kids now through college, our dreams still don’t focus mainly on us because we are eager to watch the graduates move into stable and financially self-supporting careers. Although the financial burdens of having kids in private college for 7 consecutive years are nearly gone, we still provide subsidies in early career and in at least one case there might be grad school coming up in a year or two. So . . . we’re not home free yet. But we ARE thinking of some make-up on deferred travel, auto purchases, etc.</p>