I have already moved 30 times in my life, averaging once every 27 months. Granted, I have not moved in the last four years, so it’s getting to be that time. I’m retired and my wife is approaching the end of her career, so we’d like to reduce our household expenses while increasing our mobility. A house on wheels is out of the question, but short term rentals might be our best option. Once she stops working, my wife has dreams of living in Hawaii for a year and then on to the Amalfi Coast for another. This way we could easily explore the Far West and Europe. When we weren’t in our downsized apartment, we’d be staying in hotels or on cruise ships. It’s the vagabond lifestyle that we have in mind for the first couple years of our joint retirement. Ideally, there would be no pets, children, or home maintenance worries for maybe five years. We’d then look into a retirement home on a warm beach.

My wife has already contacted a realtor to check out our options. I have a shaky track record when it comes to selling homes, but this time there is no deadline or need to settle in another city. When it sells, we’ll start to look for a place with a view, our only requirement. The rental market here in Portland is soft, so we’ll at least be able to eliminate H.O.A. fees and mortgage insurance that accounts for nearly $1000 a month. There, of course, will be moving and maybe storage costs, but we’ll stay here in Portland at least until she retires. 

As with any move, it will require a lot of planning and purging. This will become my new retirement job. I’ll have to sort through my sports collection because there won’t be room to display it all in a smaller place. I will miss my home office space with framed pictures of my heroes on the walls, along with their uniforms, bats, balls, knick-knacks, and helmets that fill the custom built-in cabinets. It will soon be somebody else’s room to decorate, so I will have to commit it to memory. Some of it I may send to my son in Florida. All of these decisions will be a hassle, but I can’t take them with me when I’m gone anyway. 

It looks like the next 10 years of my life will be spent living out of a suitcase. My office walls will be replaced with the beauty of seeing the world.  I will still continue to write about my adventures through this blog. My life has definitely been a “moving experience,” and it looks like it’s now time to “Keep On Truckin’, like the do-dah man.” (See Post #760). I’m simply “Grateful” to be alive.