Beginning Thoughts
My P.O.V.
Val gave you the basics, I’m just going to give you my point of view on the why & how. Once you’ve been floundering around for a while in life and not really able to put your finger on what’s not right, you kinda get to a point where nothing is making sense. Kids, job, life in general is just sort of a familiar routine that never really gets you anywhere. You repeat the same steps day in and day out and you do it because that’s what you’ve always done but you really aren’t sure anymore why. Don’t get me wrong, you still love your kids, you enjoy your time with friends and family, but it just seems like you’re not getting anything real out of it. Well then someone (Valerie in this case) says something out of the blue that you had in the back of your mind for years. Something like, “What would you think about dropping everything and starting all over?” And from that begins the brainstorming that brings to the front of your mind all the things you have been feeling and unable to say.
Excitement builds, life seems somehow, less routine. You have a reason for the monotony of your days. Suddenly creative juices flow and everything seems less stressful. Your job issues that always seem to balloon out of proportion through a series of management decisions and controls, no longer bother you. Your kid destroys something else in your current home, and you think, ‘well at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel.’ The ‘Five Year Plan’ has become your support to lean against when everything else isn’t working.
The Hard Part:
The last part of this five year goal will be the toughest for us because we are planning on moving to a new state where we are going to rebuild from scratch. We are reinventing our lives in a fashion that will set up how we have always wanted to live, and our future (all too quickly approaching) retirement years.
We are planning on researching various locations around the United states based on both our priorities and several influences such as cost of living, housing, employment, climate, crime rate, and how friendly the area seems. We are going to be taking several trips at various times throughout the year to see the locations in each season. And while we are at it, we are looking at homes in the areas and building a priority list for what we want, need, can’t live without. Biggest one on that list is kitchen of course, (Val is a great cook!) but we are going to make sure we have very nice guest accommodations as well.
When Valerie and I get to the moving part of the plan, we have decided that it will be about us and what’s best for us. It’ll be about finding our peace, our happiness, and our needs. Family and friends are still a big part of that and we want you all to be aware that during the chaos that all this shifting, planning, and changing is going to cause we will keep you appraised of our decisions through this website and hope for both your support and your faith that no distance or change made will separate you from our lives or our hearts. Sometimes peace of mind comes from familiar surrounding, but sometimes it comes from the strength and drive it takes to make a change. While we have good lives here, they aren’t what either of us want for ourselves.
Desires to bring about the change:
I have always wanted a warm rustic home life with all the modern conveniences we have come to love. Val wants cooler climate, but to stay connected to the city. I want a more ‘creative’ focused career with both direction and growth opportunities. Valerie likes her job, but doesn’t love it… Maybe its too much to ask for all of this. Maybe we are being obtuse in believe it’s possible. But it’s something we both need to try for. Someone very wise, I forget who and where, said (paraphrased) that, “hope is what drives us as a race. With hope all things are possible.”
Closing:
Before, during and after the dust settles, you are all welcome and even encouraged to make comments and suggestions. Help and understanding are appreciated, naysayers beware though, our goal is set in stone, only the path from here to there and beyond is up for debate.
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Have you ever wished you could just quit your job, move somewhere far away and start all over?We did, so WE ARE! We woke up and realized we were in our 40's, struggling from paycheck to paycheck, not loving where we live - not really living. So we decided to change it all.
