Since the day we realized we don't like acting retired, we have faced turbulence that has kept our environment upturned and over-stirred. Even leaving out the many family upheavals and needs, and the more sacred preparations for our mission, we have come up with varying answers to the same issues, over and over: nothing has been settling down. And with this we have had to figure out how to transition to retirement at a time when both our houses and our retirement funds have lost value.
It's not only about finances, it's about what we want and where we want to be.
Tucson is lovely in the winter, once you get to appreciate the desert. I learned to love it years ago. Reading Collapse by Jared Diamond interferes greatly with the appreciation, though - without those cottonwoods in the washes, and with the washes permanently altered so they can never grow there again, one cannot look at Tucson the same way.
Then there is the current dialog about local foods. Actually we stumbled on this concept in Anacortes, where we do eat local food, though not religiously. But then reading The Omnivore's Dilemma and Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, we know we're on the right track and can do even more: we're neophytes in that we still look to spend as little as possible on food, and that's not always going to be the local, truly organic stuff that we want to put in our mouths - are committed to putting into our mouths - these days. And you can't grow your own or eat local in Tucson!
Other considerations landed hard: we nearly hibernated in Anacortes when late fall set in, even to the point of finding that getting out for a walk required an enormous act of will.
Well, this turbulence has been going on now for 3 months, and getting to calm is being forced on us by filling out our mission papers: we have to think about things in a 3-year time frame, not just live day to day, and we have to put some of these things in writing.
Of course, this is also our choice, all the mission-related time-squeezes. And even though we've second-guessed our mission decision, it is intact: we want to go next Nov 1.
The squeeze has mostly to do with what to do with our homes, furniture, valuables (journals, for example).
And just today, we have found that calm.
We are moving to Anacortes. We are moving out of Tucson. We don't need two home bases. They are expensive and inflexible. If we don't like the weather someplace, we travel.
For example, if November is gloomy in Anacortes one year (we've been there twice in November, and once it was and once it wasn't), we go on a walking tour of Tuscany.
We love Tucson. Sort of. I think I could get my Tucson fix in 2-3 weeks of visiting. Which we plan to do - when we miss it.
We'd love to have as much of the family as possible in the Northwest, because it's a realistic, honest place to live: you can feed yourself year 'round. But we know how it goes - families can't be together when careers are at stake.
But what we will do in the Northwest is find a place where we can grow our own, just to extend the farmer's market season, and we'll find a place big enough for visiting families to be comfy, and we'll be able to afford doing that because we'll have just one house.
This is a lovely breakthrough, also a bit daunting: we have to move out of here now, then try to sell it, or rent it out. No compromises! We load everything into a van in May, and we take it to a storage area in Anacortes. Then we do the same thing w/ the Anacortes house during the summer, and if the timing is bad, we live in the trailer our last couple of months. Then we go on our mission in November, and come back in May 2010, to Anacortes, where we will buy our house and move in. And contemplate our next adventure.
We are thinking seriously of doing this mission in Salt Lake. Our transitional affairs are such that we can't easily be in Mongolia - yet. Salt Lake can be our hub, for now, just this once.
So there it is. It will be a busy time here, moving out. But it's highly clarifying, too.
Your comments are welcome, as always!
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9 comments:
All of this makes so much sense on so many levels. Mostly I'm just glad that the options are there that give you a sense of peace and rightness. We, here, in this household, have wondered in the past why you would return to Tucson at all when it is so clear that your friends, happiness, and lifestyle all fit Anacortes so much better. We love you and we're very proud of these big decisions you've been making. Of course you can always stay with us whenever you need your Tucson fix... though hopefully someday we'll migrate north too...
So early on when you said, "Next Nov 1" I thought that meant of 2009. But then later on as you are discussing your timeline it made it seem like Nov 2008. Which are you thinking?
I'm glad you are committed to going and getting past the inevitable obstacles. Your desire will be tested. Also, it takes faith to say that things (health, properties) etc will be ok as you move toward a mission. Sometimes a hard goal creates the pressure that creates solutions. "Necessity is the mother of invention." Consolidating to one locale is a great idea, imo.
So, why November? Is that the earliest possible date? Is it seasonal? Is it a middling date? Just curious.
I think it's a swell idea! (For the record, we are starting to get used to the idea of not moving back to Tucson ever...we feel the same sort of moral obligation not to be living in an unsustainable area--we dream of being self-sufficient!) Good luck with all of your moving and packing and such. And I have the same question as Real...
Super!
This really excites me. You know that we feel an extremely strong connection to Tucson [in the summer at least], but we also feel that home-owning in Tucson--if you have a choice--is morally indefensible. The bulldozed land, drained rivers, trucked-in produce [and everything else], massive air-conditioner use, and obligatory commutes make life in Tucson ultimately more destructive than anywhere else in the US that I can think of. We dearly love it, and we're glad we're not there to contribute to its demise.
And I can't think of many places west of the Mississippi that are more ecologically secure for the long run than western WA.
Additionally, I think this is perfect for you guys and the family. Simplicity is happiness.
[and the weather doesn't hurt either]
yersun
As I read it, you are feeling an urge to consolidate and simplify, which I am also feeling, with unprecedented intensity, or ferocity, even, which for me means an almost constant desire to find the very marrow, as they say, and stop always pushing the metaphorical Steinway around the house. You can't really MOVE with all that STUFF, be it phyical or mental or whatever. So I support what you're doing and encourage you to see the fat-cutting as a spiritual practice as well as a pragmatic, logistical project. At some point, usually unrecognized until too late, our STUFF becomes like accumulated smooshed bugs on the windshild of our perception, and all the worries and distractions and conditions of ownership get between us and unconditional reality, which is out there for the perceiving if we keep looking and keep unsing the wipers. So wipe away, and have a happy trip.
Lots of great comments here. How do we get natural food in Salt Lake, local stuff year round? Obviously it can be done, and I am not even considering hydroponics, which is the worst of reductionist food.
We may well be in SLC for 1.5 yrs. The biggest challenge of it at this point is food. I would rather be eating out of the bazaars of Botswana - or else there are sources there that I don't know.
IFF we can sell our houses, one or more, we can go anywhere! Or get the perfect long-term renters!
What are you each doing to move toward your ideal wrt food and housing and locale?
What v. said is why we just spent all of saturday gutting our apartment and getting rid of everything we could.
I agree about tucson, though I have a spouse who cannot imagine living anywhere else. It makes for an interesting situation. We are constantly trying to simplify... I'm even stripping down my "workroom" and getting down to the hobbies that are actually my "job" now... interesting!
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