When plans become action
Well, it has been a little bit since we last posted. During that time quite a bit has happened, yet none of it was so notable as to warrant an update. But now…
Now things are getting real!
Lena has formally given her resignation notice to her employer. She is going to work three more weeks, until June 3, and then she will be officially retired.
“Retired” is such an awkward word to describe our status. For one thing, it feels like we are far too young to be “retired”. The connotation of being put out to pasture doesn’t fit, in fact the opposite is more the case. I think “revitalized” is a much more accurately descriptive word.
That is especially true in light of the circumstances that moved our date up to early June. At one point, Lena was hoping to attain a work anniversary of 15 years with her employer on October 16th. However, things have gotten markedly untenable there, and we made the decision to go ahead and have her resign now.
When she hit the “send” button on the resignation email, Lena said it was like a huge weight was lifted off her shoulders. Truly more of a revitalization than a “retirement”.
Adjusting Mindsets
It is one thing to have meticulously planned our finances out for the next 7 years on paper, and yet entirely another to completely commit to that plan. But now we are committed, and that will take a little getting used to.
We aren’t really going to substantially change our spending habits now, but we are going to be much more cognizant of our expenses. One of the things that reassures me about our financial plan is that we aren’t relying on any reduction of our monthly spending in order to meet our budget.
That said, one of our opportunities for “additional income” generation will come from spending less than anticipated. In the past, Lena would work some additional overtime if we wanted to splurge on something like an over-the-top vacation. Now our option to replicate that will likely come from our ability to live a bit more austerely for a few months and using the savings for any big splurges.
It will be the same, just different.
Next Steps
We won’t be moving out of the area right away. We will stay here in our rental house until the end of July. My mom is moving out of her home of 40+ years in this area and moving to Dallas, Texas. We will be helping her get packed and deal with decades of accumulated “stuff”, as well as selling her house.
My sister lives in Dallas and has graciously offered us up a corner of her garage, so we will co-opt onto my mom’s move and add our little bit of belongings that we want to store. After she gets on the way, we will clean here and get rid of our last bits of furniture etc., then hop in the car for a slow drive towards Dallas, stopping to see at least two of our kids along the way.
After that we are off to our beach cottage in Gulf Shores, Alabama for sort of a “soft” shift into semi-nomadism.
There is a definite off-season for beach rentals in Gulf Shores, so our plan includes staying there when it is not booked. That generally means September to December. We have had “Snowbird” renters each year for January and February, then the on-season begins with early spring break season in March.
For this year we will spend most of December seeing family in Texas for Christmas, then in January we are off to Cozumel for three months. That will be our first “real” nomad stop.
From there we have some decisions to make. The short list of options includes travel through Europe (we want to walk the Camino de Santiago but aren’t completely sure that 2022 is the year to do it), staying in Mexico and/or Central America, or coming back to the U.S. and buying a truck and trailer so we can road trip around the states.
I suspect we won’t make that decision until at least late in this year, or while we are in Cozumel. Time will tell.
In the Meantime
There is a lot to be done. We have been selling quite a bit of our belongings with some reasonable success, but until now it has been only stuff we weren’t using. Now it will soon be time to sell furniture and other items that won’t be going with us when we move out.
We also want to take advantage of the opportunity to visit with family and friends in this part of the world before we leave. It’s funny how you get a renewed appreciation for the opportunity to see people on a regular basis once you decide to move out of an area.
Two and a half months sounds like a long time, but in truth I know it will fly by.
Onward
“Things happen for a reason.” Whether you consider that a platitude to help us deal with the inevitable, or rather a mantra to live by, either way wheels are constantly in motion.
I tend personally to be one of the latter and believe that we have at least a little control in our destiny arc. But, no matter how it happened, we are incredibly excited to be moving on to the next chapter in our lives.
Stand by for updates!