Not Seeing My Shadow

Groundhog Day means two things:

1. We are half way through winter with six weeks till spring.  I only have a sprinkle of snow where I live.  If I have to be cold, I  would like a little snow.
2. Groundhog Day is the name of one of my very favorite movies.  Groundhog Day replays over and over in a man’s life, until he gets things right.

It is the perfect time to think about what comes next, and for us what comes next, in just two years, is Hubby retires.  No longer will we have to live where the job dictates.  We have moved for many jobs, and lived in New Jersey, Washington, California,  Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.  We have met many wonderful people, and each place has had its own special attractions.  Now we are able to pick where we want to live, and moving over and over has us well ready to get things right.

Where you live determines much about how you live.  Places that are hot during the day, tend to have events to bring people out into the cooler evenings.  In areas where people live very close together, everyone becomes very protective of their privacy and security.  College towns have many events for low-cost entertainment, and sometimes free classes for seniors.  Cities have sports venues, museums, and entertainment, plus public transportation.  Medical care is more available in the city, as opposed to the country or wilderness.

While we no longer need to worry about living near a job, our children must live by their jobs, with no guarantee that their situations will not change in the years to come.  Friends recommended  not moving to a place because of our children, but the thing I long for most where I am now, is to be closer to family.  But family is not in one places,  Moving near one child, will still leave me with a drive to the others.

We spend time doing internet searches to find which states are tax friendly to retires.  We compare cost of living, look at weather maps, and make lists of what we might like in our last home.  We have found we need to do a lot more talking.  He wants a few acres, I want a small lot.  He wants to raise our food and can everything.  I want to write and retire from the kitchen.

I guess we could just procrastinate on making any choice, and use our new travel trailer and truck to drive around in a circle visiting all the kids, but then we could choice anyplace as our base of operation and do that.  Decisions, decisions.