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I hear we childfrees are missing a very profound experience by not having children. Where I admit that might be correct, I am content to miss that point. No confidence that I'd agree about the pluses of being a parent.
Same here.
My family is pretty traditional. I can't believe how often I was poked and prodded about the marriage and babies thing by my parents and grandparents.
Hard to believe I have been retired for 10 years now! One of my big goals in life was always to retire before I was all used up and now I can say I made it! I live in Las Vegas. I picked it because of the low COL/taxes, weather, and there is a lot to do. I have a small ranch home in a working class neighborhood. It's very urban and I can walk, when it's not 110 degrees, to lots of places. I lived rural for years and I was tired of the isolation, yardwork, and driving.
Back in my working life I was an engineer. I lived all over the place and I loved it. I did all sorts of things in interesting places. I was up for wherever they wanted to send me. Winter was my favorite season until they sent me to Minnesota. I spent almost the last 15 years of my career there. After living through that I had no desire to live anywhere winter was more than half the year. Didn't want tornadoes or hurricanes either!
I have been a member of this board for quite some time and have enjoyed reading the posts but have not yet jumped in. I love this thread and thought what the heck. I am originally from Michigan. After graduating from Ferris State College in Big Rapids, MI in 1974 I moved to Chicago and worked for Montgomery Wards for 2 years. Then I had a 27 year stint with Nielsen Marketing Research out of the Chicago area but worked out of Orange County, CA. Fullerton. After years of living in hotel rooms all around the country including Hawaii as a Regional Operations Manager, I came to the realization that I would be dead in 5 years from the stress and travel so called in quits in 2003. I then took a job with a big box retailer as an HR Manager here in CA and have been with them for the past 15 years. I am married with one son who owns his own business. My husband was in the Food Broker Sales business for years, but as that business changed (bankruptcy), he was in and out of jobs and now he is currently working PT as a Supervisor for a local construction company owned by a good friend of ours. He almost died 3 years ago from pneumonia and was on life support for a week. His current job suits his needs because he just needs to get out of the house. He is not a good candidate for retirement at least for now. I was originally planning on retiring in Feb 19 but have extended it a bit til July 19 because my position is being eliminated.
I can’t wait for the next 8 months to be over. At least for the time being, we will not leave So. CA. My life is here, and I just cannot imagine moving to another area and not know anyone and also have to deal with the weather extremes. I have more than enough things to keep me busy as I move into retirement. I am an avid cook…refuse to buy process prepared anything. I grow most of my fruits and vegetable. My house needs a lot of tender loving care that we plan on doing gradually. I also will get more active in a side business that I have making baby quilts out of vintage chenille bedspreads. Then if I have any extra time, I can help out at a local women’s shelter. Life will be good. I marvel at those that talk about travel, travel, and more travel. Been there, done that. I want to slow down and do what I want to do and when I want to do it.
What a wonderful thread, best one I've ever read on this forum, you folks are all awesome!
Couldn't agree more!
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I'll jump in too. I'm a long-divorced female (hard to tell from my screen name), age 68, Philadelphian retired to Florida. I inherited my mother's condo, which is how I ended up here. It's been five years and so far, so good....though my REAL dream has been to move back to Southern CA, where I lived for two glorious years. That's actually how I got started on this forum. That was ten years ago, and I doubt I'll ever be able to fulfill that dream on my retirement income. But if not, I feel FL is the next-best place. I love the beauty of the year-round vegetation, palm trees, sunshine, powder-white beaches and turquoise water. I miss Philly and wish I could move the whole city and my family and friends down here, but I don't think I can ever go "home" again. I physically can't take the cold anymore, and this is now my happy place.
I'm retired from a 30-year-career at a healthcare information technology company. Have an adult son who was a problem child and is now a problem adult. It's heartbreaking for me but I have to just try not to worry, and hope for the best. It's out of my control now.
My interests are line-dancing, politics, my two little West Highland White Terriers, and I'm a HUGE Philadelphia Eagles fan. Probably spend WAY too much time on Facebook and Twitter, but C-D is one of my favorites and I feel like I know many of you at this point. I've seen internet forums come and go, so I'm glad C-D lives on!
Last edited by Avalon08; 11-29-2018 at 11:51 PM..
Reason: added something
It was never easy for me. I was born a poor black child. I remember the days sittin’ on the porch with my family...oops, wrong story.
I was actually born in a poorer situation than Navin Johnson. It was another country that was 3rd world conditions at the time. We had the whole bit, family of four living in one small room with no electricity or running water with an outhouse up the hill. I don’t have many memories of life then but one vivid memory that strikes me from time to time is the memory of having to squat over that hole in the ground in that dark wooden structure - I really like clean bathrooms now.
We were able to immigrate to America when I was 5 during the ‘70s because an aunt had married a GI who was then able to sponsor us. My parents had no education, skills or even able to speak English so life was not easy - but on a spectrum life was vastly better than where we came from. My father worked cleaning houses so my working career began at 8 as I was brought along to help clean the walls, windows and yard work. My brother and I had to do this work throughout our schooling years.
Did well in school and ended up going to a decent university where I doubled in Econ and History. After college, I found a great job for a large money management company where I ended up as a corporate bond trader. The job was ideal for me: The Wall Street industry had great perks at the time, the morning hours starting at 5am fit my body clock well, the analytical work and fast pace was fun, and the job paid extremely well.
When the Markets flamed out 10yrs ago, however, that momentous time in the financial markets coupled with my own dawning mid-life crisis issues led to one of those perplexing yet lucid life moments: After A 17yr career, I stared at the mirror one day and decided that the next brilliant move in my life at the age of 39 was to drop everything and move to the Big Island.
I was single, had some cash in the bank, was active and healthy...it seemed like a brilliant idea! Looking back on it I marvel at how idiotic I was. I left a high-paying job right before the prime earning years of my career to become a coffee farmer or something in Holualoa.
Anyway, God is beyond all else a perversely funny dude (or dudette), so just as I was about to enter a life of blissful stupidity on the most remote archipelago on Earth, I got a girl pregnant. It has been a stressful 8 years since.
But my daughter is the greatest and only important thing in my life. I have spent these years raising a little human being which is the most tiring and difficult job in the world in many ways. It’s not the way I would have ever guessed the next few years after retiring early would have been but it’s been fulfilling. I never got to the Big Island but I ended up in a good school district in California instead!
I have promised myself that the day my daughter leaves for college is the day before I buy a one-way ticket to Hawaii...
Pre-retirement couple. I am 62 and my wife is 59. I have spent my entire life living in S-E Michigan, grew up in a farm town of ~300 people, parents were a factory worker and a SAH mom, have two sisters. My wife was born in Alaska only a few months after it became a state, lived for a year or two in Tennessee, then spent the rest of her childhood in the largest city on the West side of Michigan. Her parents were both factory workers, after her dad's air force gig concluded while still a pre-schooler. She has four siblings and is the oldest. We now live in the suburban area between two cities separated by 10 miles with a combined population of ~130,000.
I chose to attend a Co-Op Engineering College after High School because my parents were facing 4 straight years of dual college costs otherwise (I am the middle child). My wife chose the same college because of family financial conditions, there were zero funds to pay for college in her household. Obviously that is where we met.
I spent 38 years working in the automotive industry designing and constructing industrial buildings. The last 12 years or so I was a 'Road Warrior', living out of airports and hotels while managing construction projects all over the US, Canada, and Mexico. (As a young boy I was enthralled with the career of Uncle Bill on the sit-Com "Family Affairs", so maybe it isn't too surprising that a small town farm kid had this career) I was also considered a Subject Matter Expert for construction projects in Europe, South America, and Asia-Pacific regions.
My wife decided she didn't really like engineering all that much and would rather be a SAH Mom for our first son, and then his younger brother. She re-entered the workforce as a Special Education Para-Pro approximately 25 years ago when the youngest was in Middle School. She initially worked only with Autistic students but now is working with the full range of special need students.
After 38 years with my first employer I saw the handwriting on the wall that I was at the top of the list for the next round of Reductions In Force (the big boss at the time based these decisions only on seniority). I announced my retirement 4 months early and immediately started looking for a second career. I found another job and for the past 6-1/2 years I have been managing construction projects at a Nuclear Power Plant.
What an interesting thread! One often wonders whom they are exchanging ideas with on CD.
I grew-up ... 'rough', in a single-parent, relatively poor home. My mother did the best she could to raise three kids without welfare, child support or much education. I met my father for the first time when I was 23 and never saw him again.
At 71, I've been retired 10-years from sales/computers/marketing/strategic intelligence. Concurrent with the last 30-years of my career, I was also an ordained minister and preached and taught 3-5 times per week in prisons, halfway houses, missions, nursing homes, churches, etc.. Since retiring, we've traveled considerably - I've also continued in ministry, plus golfing, ocean fishing, reading and have written a book ("You Can Know the Truth").
My wife of 50-years is a retired school principal. We have two grown children and five grandkids, all of whom are Christians. I decided early that the cold Midwest was not for me (Denver & KC, Mo). Instead of waiting to retire, we moved to Florida in 1973 and have lived in Tampa (6-yrs), Kissimmee (4-yrs), Satellite Beach (27-yrs) and Destin (8-yrs). Three moves were career-oriented, the last was to be nearer to our daughter and her family in Destin (and also our Son and his family near Atlanta).
We moved from SFH's to ocean/water-front condos in 2002 and still enjoy that lifestyle. We currently live on the harbor, with only a narrow strip of land between us and the beautiful, Emerald Coast Gulf. Hurricane Michael missed us by about 50-miles; otherwise, in all our years in Florida, we've never really been hit by a big one.
We have been and remain blessed in every way and look forward to the future (here and beyond) in faith and the 'peace of God that passes all understanding.'
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