Ruminations of this retired person. (friendly, state, vacation, friends)
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Where I'm at right now is kind of a shocker. I've been wanting to relocate, whining about the lack of friends where I am now, but when I rewind 2015 in my head I'm stunned by what I never saw happening. Last weekend was the most fun ever, a lovely Christmas dinner at a friend's house, 3 couples in all. Lots of warmth and love. Last week a dinner out with potential new friends, September was a full-moon campfire on the beach with about a dozen neighbors and I'm looking forward to a New Years Eve gala. I wanted an instant best friend but suddenly I see that I've got so many good friendships in the making. There have been so many lovely heartwarming experiences this year that I didn't value or wasn't feeling because I couldn't. My best friend is fighting stage 3 cancer and I've been concerned for her and feeling sorry for myself and I've shut myself down. Where I'm at right now is I'm going to love where I am and appreciate those around me and patiently wait for my new friends to become best friends because it doesn't happen overnight. Strong friendships are built from cumulative shared memories, good or bad.
Just sitting here today in front of my computer when I should be doing some domestic work. But it's too fun to read some threads and what people post. Some I learn so much from; others aren't for me. We are all different and that is a good thing. Keeps life interesting.
Anyway, I've mentioned before how I wanted to move to NC. Then life happened and I didn't and it really looks like it won't happen, at least not any time soon.
I have friends in my life who have indicated they would prefer that I did not leave (), but the kid inside of me keeps thinking but I want to go. But where? No longer enchanted with NC, reading all of your posts make so many places so appealing.
In my younger years I wanted to get in the car and go....... drive all over the country. Stop in little towns, get little jobs, live in a room, keep life simple but learn, learn, learn and make so many friends. I still think of that now. Especially if I see a movie of someone doing something similar. I have no family ties to keep me here.
I know this thread if a frivolous one. But it's where I am "at" right now. Where are you??
Sounds like you're in need of a good old fashioned road trip.
Perhaps the plan could be to buy a cheap, reliable car, drive down the coast, stopping in several towns along the way, some places in NC, make your way down to FL, Daytona, then the Keys. At the end, drive back to Miami, sell the car, hop on a plane, and head home.
You're never too old for an adventure if you have an adventurous spirit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by seeriously
Where I'm at right now is kind of a shocker. I've been wanting to relocate, whining about the lack of friends where I am now, but when I rewind 2015 in my head I'm stunned by what I never saw happening. Last weekend was the most fun ever, a lovely Christmas dinner at a friend's house, 3 couples in all. Lots of warmth and love. Last week a dinner out with potential new friends, September was a full-moon campfire on the beach with about a dozen neighbors and I'm looking forward to a New Years Eve gala. I wanted an instant best friend but suddenly I see that I've got so many good friendships in the making. There have been so many lovely heartwarming experiences this year that I didn't value or wasn't feeling because I couldn't. My best friend is fighting stage 3 cancer and I've been concerned for her and feeling sorry for myself and I've shut myself down. Where I'm at right now is I'm going to love where I am and appreciate those around me and patiently wait for my new friends to become best friends because it doesn't happen overnight. Strong friendships are built from cumulative shared memories, good or bad.
Sometimes we can't see all the good things happening in our lives when it doesn't look exactly like we thought it would. But it sounds like you're one of the lucky ones who figured that out before doing something rash.
I've been researching places to go until I am tired of it. I'm fairly certain I have it down to Cleveland or Knoxville.
There's nothing to keep me here. I had 3 best friends & they are all gone. I have some nice acquaintance' s, but all 3 of my friends were years old. How do you share those kind of memories?
Maybe someday I'll open up again but, as of now it hasn't happened.
Just sitting here today in front of my computer when I should be doing some domestic work. But it's too fun to read some threads and what people post. Some I learn so much from; others aren't for me. We are all different and that is a good thing. Keeps life interesting.
Anyway, I've mentioned before how I wanted to move to NC. Then life happened and I didn't and it really looks like it won't happen, at least not any time soon.
I have friends in my life who have indicated they would prefer that I did not leave (), but the kid inside of me keeps thinking but I want to go. But where? No longer enchanted with NC, reading all of your posts make so many places so appealing.
In my younger years I wanted to get in the car and go....... drive all over the country. Stop in little towns, get little jobs, live in a room, keep life simple but learn, learn, learn and make so many friends. I still think of that now. Especially if I see a movie of someone doing something similar. I have no family ties to keep me here.
I know this thread if a frivolous one. But it's where I am "at" right now. Where are you??
1. The grass does always look greener on the other side but it isn't always
Conversely:
2. You have a restless soul because it has never found its Nirvana. Somewhere on this forum, I have spoke about that. I have traveled over most of the Continental U.S. amd several places in Canada.
I knew when I was seven I should be someplace else but, running away from home sure wasn't going to solve anything, lollol.
I found my Nirvana in 1990 but wasn't able to get here until 2003. I knew I'd get here someday but wasn't sure how or when. It took my job of 17 years closing the doors, and losing my son in a car accident for me to pull up my roots. Even then I did not come straight to my place of piece as I still needed to make money and Tennessee is not known for high paying Blue Collar jobs.
3. If you don't have strong human ties, dogs, horses, or other livestock holding you back, my thought would be to plan some extended vacations in places that interest you. Go in the off-seasons, when prices are cheaper and you can get a taste for how the people live and interact.
Imagine what it would be like to live out the rest of your life in those places. Compare those feelings to how you feel when you get back home.
At this juncture of your life, having some sort of human cushion is important, should you become ill or incapacitated, even for a short time. What would you do if you ended up with pneumonia and were too sick to even get to the doctor? Or if you fell off the step stool and really couldn't get up, like that stupid commercial?
The whole thing is a Catch-22. Romanticism vs Reality. Finding your place of peace vs. living out your life where you have friends, doctors and are safe & comfortable without having to give a second thought
Do any of you get the part where I say I have a financial problem???? Sure, travel from here to Miami. Sell my car. Hop a plane (how do I pay for the ticket?).
I have a 2009 Toyota Corolla. I'm not getting rid of it. Wonderful car. Will serve me for many more years (I bought it brand spanking new).
And where does it say here that I can't express my desires without getting a ton of unasked for advice? Or telling me what my motives are?
Nirvana?? What works for you might not be my "thing." Have you considered that?
Oh yes, there will be a few who will tell me I am just too sensitive. Thank you God for making me that way.
The first time I was only 15. I stole a car and drove from Alabama to Eads, CO, where a nice friendly Highway Patrolman stopped me. They made me go home. That was in 1961.
The second one started in 1963. Believe it or not, in spite of being a certified juvenile delinquent, I had managed to graduate from high school. So, away I went.
47 years later, in 2010, my road trip finally ended. I found I had visited 49 states (Alaska) and 19 foreign countries.
I probably drove close to 2 million miles, because I drove an 18 wheeler 750,000.
I have been a sailor, and electronics technician, an auto mechanic, a salesman, a business owner and a truck driver. I have flown sailplanes, driven a hydrofoil, flown in the Goodyear Blimp, fought in a war, sailed across the Gulf of Mexico, hiked to the bottom of The Grand Canyon, worked in Argentina and several Caribbean countries, built homes, and even got married. Still am.
Know what? I dream of going again, sometimes.
There is a cure for what ails you, I think.
It is called backpack traveling. I went to Washington DC like that, on the train. And I went to Bermuda, too. Just my carry-on backpack.
Learn to pack everything you need into a backpack. There are plenty of online resources to help you.
Then hop in your car and go. It not ridiculous. My sister, born with the same tumbleweed soul that I have, packed her carry on backpack and spent a week in VietNam. She loved it!
So. Whereyawanna go?
I sing this song sometimes....
I started working at age 12, because an elderly gent liked the way I looked in a dog show ring with his German Shepherd. Then other people liked the way I looked with their large dogs (I was growing tall at 12), and the ease with which I could run (ah, the old days!). And I was on my way.
At age 15, I took my first road trip, to a Florida cluster of dog shows. One of the dog owners drove me down. I was then at almost full adult height (6'-2") and had improved my handling skills. I met a lot of new people who wanted me to handle their dogs for them. That summer when I was 15-16, I worked in FL, GA, TX and IN...all on other people's dimes. I paid nothing, and earned money besides.
I traveled the US and Canada every summer till I finished college, then full-time after that. It lasted till I was 28, and my bride was pregnant with our first child. Then I had to stay home and really work!
NYGal, have you ever considered driving other people's cars around the country for them? There are people who need a car driven from Point A to Point B for them. And other folks who need the reverse. These are usually very nice, expensive cars. You get your expenses paid, plus cash, and get to see the country as well. You could start with a NY to FL run, and back. Think about it!
Just sitting here today in front of my computer when I should be doing some domestic work. But it's too fun to read some threads and what people post. Some I learn so much from; others aren't for me. We are all different and that is a good thing. Keeps life interesting.
Anyway, I've mentioned before how I wanted to move to NC. Then life happened and I didn't and it really looks like it won't happen, at least not any time soon.
I have friends in my life who have indicated they would prefer that I did not leave (), but the kid inside of me keeps thinking but I want to go. But where? No longer enchanted with NC, reading all of your posts make so many places so appealing.
In my younger years I wanted to get in the car and go....... drive all over the country. Stop in little towns, get little jobs, live in a room, keep life simple but learn, learn, learn and make so many friends. I still think of that now. Especially if I see a movie of someone doing something similar. I have no family ties to keep me here.
I know this thread if a frivolous one. But it's where I am "at" right now. Where are you??
Hey lets go! LOL, I was like you, wanting to travel, had all my plans in place, husband retired, my job could go with me. Then my mom had a stroke 2 years ago and those plans went out the window so here I sit looking at the pile of her bills, looking at the clock for my time to go to her house to sit with her, looking out at the gray sky, yep, here I sit sipping my morning coffee before I start fulfilling my obligations to everyone else for yet another day.
...I know this thread if a frivolous one. But it's where I am "at" right now. Where are you??
Hmm. I have been a nice kid, a good but unhappy student, a goalless drunk, a smooth office courtier and peacemaker, an almost egregious socializer and a loner, a volunteer worker with terminally ill people, a disabled guy who sat in a tiny apt. and talked with feline would-be psychiatrist while doctors talked to each other...and then badda bing! (stealing someone else's line, I know.) This was done on a series of sets - idyllic small town in western NYS, Syracuse, brief travelling job, Manhattan...post feline psychiatrist, only partially paid for medical treatment and badda bing!...solo to Madeira, Cyprus, southern Portugal...with trips to Ireland, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Istanbul, Athens
"at"....is the SW corner of Portugal geographically, surviving the loss of two, dear new friends who were almost twenty years younger; re-connected with a cousin the same age with whom I had a distant, formal relationship and now a warm one; the feline psychiatrist is deceased but replaced by an online human one, a friend in a foreign country with whom there is a rambling discussion of the existence and nature of the self - he is, I am happy to report, coming around; lots of trips to the cliffs above the sea, the woods in the hills; living in a warm and open neighborhood almost like that small town of a lifetime ago; many books, much music...wretched health which has come to seem ordinary, and an ordinary life that seems endlessly special. The view from my living room window is across the town and the hills to the highest "mountain" in the province, which is really a rather dumpy little affair. But over time I have seen that it turns deep blue sometimes, even gets tinted lavender, surprisingly mounds of clouds spill over the top, it is sometimes wreathed in strands of mist and disappears entirely very often.
Quote:
Originally Posted by borninsac
Wherever we go, there we are.
Yes, but then I feel like a jalopy...the car that started the trip has lost a lot of pieces, acquired numerous new patches,panels and parts and close to the end of the trip it would be hard to identify the original car that began it. Or whether to.
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), but the kid inside of me keeps thinking but I want to go. But where? No longer enchanted with NC, reading all of your posts make so many places so appealing. 
That was in 1961.
