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I moved to N. AL be closer to my daughter after I took early retirement. I had lived in Tampa FL for 30 years and was tired of all the traffic and crime not to mention the high cost of property taxes and insurance. If you have friends in FL maybe that is the best place for you. All my friends worked or were married so I didn't see much of them. Family and friends are what make a place a home. Since I live alone I also felt I wanted family close by just in case I needed them. There are good and bad about every place you just have to decide if you are happy where you are living or would you be happier living in CT.
I didn't know anyone here except my daughter but I have made friends and love the fact that I don't need an alarm on my house just to feel safe. I don't talk to my daughter every day but I know they make sure I am online everyday.
I had to come back to this post, LauraC, and ask if you have any children or grandchildren? The reason I ask is that I have both, and no PC video would ever substitute for a warm hug.
Now, I'm not going to decide where and how to live based on that warm hug, but it sure can make a person feel loved.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LauraC
What do you do in retirement that makes you happy and where can you do it best?
Consider that if you decide to stay put, you and your family can each get something for your PCs where you would be able to see each other when you talk on line.
Thanks Keeper for your insight. I have thought the same thing about family and friends which is why I have narrowed it down to Ct. where my daughter is or New Orleans where the rest of family and friends are
I do have a few friends here but they all work or live over an hour away so I don't see a whole lot of them. No matter where I move there will be "weather issues" so its what I think I can deal with. I am finding that I am tolerating the heat less and less here..... I have lived up the east coast so I am familiar with snow and cold and I think I'd enjoy 4 seasons again. But then there is the arthritis..... point being no place is perfect so I look at what I need/want.
Right now, today, (this may change in an hour...)I am leaning towards moving to Ct. renting and seeing how I fare and to monitor things in new orleans. Progress is there but its VERY slow!! I may find I hate it in Ct. or love it, who knows. At least, I'll maybe get to NYC and Boston ( 2 cities I enjoy visiting), spend time with my newly married daughter.
btw, Keeper, I live for about 7 years in northern Al. Huntsville.
I'm still in New Orleans and don't qualify for retirement for a couple of years, but I am planning to retire up north to a city where actually I know nobody. My companion Frank plans to retire there with me, at that time. Sounds crazy, I know - - especially because I will need to learn how to live with snow. The way I look at it, Katrina was horrendous but I guess the silver lining is that it gave us the opportunity to re-evaluate our lives and consider trying something new and adventurous.
It is very wearing to live here with the threat of hurricanes and the levee/floodwall system is much less reliable than before Katrina. The politicians are hopeless, as always. The health care here has not recovered either, which is not good for retirees. I love the New Orleans that I remember, but like you said, it's not recovered (yet) and I suspect that will take a very long time.
I think those of us from New Orleans who want to move, need to look for areas that give us something to move towards, not just away from.
In your case, I think nobody can answer your question but you. If you aren't sure, maybe you could spend some time (renting?) in Connecticut before you make up your mind. Then you would have a better idea of what you want to do. Just a thought. Good luck to you.
Nola2
Thanks for your post. what you are saying about New Orleans is what I have heard from friends/family that are still there. It is very disheartening/sad and I am not sure it will ever really come back. The New Orleans I grew up in is gone....but then there is my mom who is 81 living outside the city in Metairie. She said that it is her home and she didn't want to live anywhere else. She also has alot of friends there.
You are lucky in that you have a partner so you will at least know one person when you move. In Ct. besides my daughter there is her fiance's whole family so I would know others thru her. As I said, I lean towards renting up there and seeing what happens in the next few years with New Orleans. As you point out ,tho, and as my name indicates......
Any idea where you might move to?
Nola2
Thanks for your post. what you are saying about New Orleans is what I have heard from friends/family that are still there. It is very disheartening/sad and I am not sure it will ever really come back. The New Orleans I grew up in is gone....but then there is my mom who is 81 living outside the city in Metairie. She said that it is her home and she didn't want to live anywhere else. She also has alot of friends there.
You are lucky in that you have a partner so you will at least know one person when you move. In Ct. besides my daughter there is her fiance's whole family so I would know others thru her. As I said, I lean towards renting up there and seeing what happens in the next few years with New Orleans. As you point out ,tho, and as my name indicates......
Any idea where you might move to?
We are leaning strongly towards Springfield, Missouri, though we sometimes toy with the idea of Huntsville, Alabama. It snows in Springfield, but it seems like a peaceful, inexpensive region with reasonably low crime that is kind of off the beaten track. You're right - - I'm really lucky that Frank is planning to retire the same year as me, and is planning to move there with me. He is so sweet. He is a native New Orleanian, too, sixth generation.
His 81-year-old father and stepmother came back too, and his father passed away this spring in his home in New Orleans, which I suppose was how he wanted to go when his time came. I think it is very hard on the elderly here, but many are just too old to want to start over again somewhere else.
Frank says the New Orleans he remembers is gone, that it was almost gone before the storm and this was the last straw for him. I still love New Orleans, but it breaks my heart to drive around through the (still) devastated areas. Anybody who lives here and is not depressed by what has happened here has a screw loose, in my opinion, and living in a city full of depressed people is not especially wonderful. I want my retirement to be happy, peaceful, healthy, and safe, and so I feel I must move. I have lived here for eleven years, and even though I didn't grow up here I still have moments when I want to stay. Things are still pretty bad here, though. We cannot qualify to retire for about two or three more years, so if things are better by that time I suppose we could stay. That would take a miracle, though, and I don't see it happening. Almost everyone I know is planning to move away in 2-3 years, as soon as they get their affairs wound up here and get their houses sold, sadly enough.
My daughter lives in Oregon, but I cannot afford a nice place in Oregon since I will be retiring on a shoestring. I am hoping that Springfield will be a good place for us, though like you I will probably rent for the first 6 months or year.
Nola;
what coincidences....I have a sister in the Portland Oregon area and I lived for 7 years in Huntsville.....
I pretty much ruled out Portland for the same reason you did and the weather altho it is Beautiful up there. Huntsville is not a bad place. I lived there in the late 80's early 90's. I got divorced there and then moved back to New Orleans so for me it hold personal bad memories.... From what I understand it has come along with a new museum downtown. There is/was a symphony and they had a Broadway series and such. There was/is a old boy southern baptist "flavor" to it but I tried not to pay too much attention to it! ( local politics) it was hard at first not being able to buy a bottle of wine on a Sunday yet bars were open in the afternoon... silly stuff like that. There are 4 seasons there. More of ice than snow altho it does snow. Hilly in places. I did have my worse bouts of allergies there and actually had some sinus infections. ( someone told me that the native americans called the valley there "big head" because of the sinus problems...) Anyway, as I said, its not a bad place and its 7-8 hr drive from New Orleans...Nashville and Birmingham are about an hour and half drive. If it weren't for my ex still living there....
I hear ya about n'awlins. I am going up to Ct. beginning of June for a few days for a party for my daughter and will see then. The wedding is in Sept. I'm thinking of spending Christmas up there is year to see about the cold. ( she usually comes down here then)
thanks for your post.
Nola;
what coincidences....I have a sister in the Portland Oregon area and I lived for 7 years in Huntsville.....
I pretty much ruled out Portland for the same reason you did and the weather altho it is Beautiful up there. Huntsville is not a bad place. I lived there in the late 80's early 90's. I got divorced there and then moved back to New Orleans so for me it hold personal bad memories.... From what I understand it has come along with a new museum downtown. There is/was a symphony and they had a Broadway series and such. There was/is a old boy southern baptist "flavor" to it but I tried not to pay too much attention to it! ( local politics) it was hard at first not being able to buy a bottle of wine on a Sunday yet bars were open in the afternoon... silly stuff like that. There are 4 seasons there. More of ice than snow altho it does snow. Hilly in places. I did have my worse bouts of allergies there and actually had some sinus infections. ( someone told me that the native americans called the valley there "big head" because of the sinus problems...) Anyway, as I said, its not a bad place and its 7-8 hr drive from New Orleans...Nashville and Birmingham are about an hour and half drive. If it weren't for my ex still living there....
I hear ya about n'awlins. I am going up to Ct. beginning of June for a few days for a party for my daughter and will see then. The wedding is in Sept. I'm thinking of spending Christmas up there is year to see about the cold. ( she usually comes down here then)
thanks for your post.
LOL!! I hear you about not wanting to live where your ex is. My ex-husband lives in Arizona, so I have eliminated that whole state due to his being there.
Good luck to you and I hope your Christmas in CT helps you to decide where you want to be! Like you, I am not sure but I have a while to decide. Most of the time I want to be in Springfield and lead a happy, normal life, but once in a while I get so nostalgic and I think I would miss this broken, messed up city too much.
thanks Nola2
I am the same way about the city too. I talked to friends and then I think well..... maybe.... but then I read about all the stuff going on with the politics and I remember the dirt lot that is all that's left of my mom's house and I think that maybe not after all.
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I have lived up the east coast so I am familiar with snow and cold and I think I'd enjoy 4 seasons again. But then there is the arthritis..... point being no place is perfect so I look at what I need/want. 
)I am leaning towards moving to Ct. renting and seeing how I fare and to monitor things in new orleans. Progress is there but its VERY slow!! I may find I hate it in Ct. or love it, who knows. At least, I'll maybe get to NYC and Boston ( 2 cities I enjoy visiting), spend time with my newly married daughter. 
In Ct. besides my daughter there is her fiance's whole family so I would know others thru her. As I said, I lean towards renting up there and seeing what happens in the next few years with New Orleans. As you point out ,tho, and as my name indicates...... 
