Showing posts with label breast cancer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label breast cancer. Show all posts

Thursday, February 4, 2010

The Mrs-Part 2...

As I read the blogs of full time RVers, many of them warn that full timing isn't for everyone. It caused me to wonder why in the world a life of freedom and travel could ever be negative.  I guess there are things that can go wrong.  Breakdowns in equipment or mixups in reservations.  Smaller accommodations might feel "confining" to some.  I guess it all depends on how well you and your partner handle adversity.  In life's twists and turns my DH and I have had several trials which could have broken our relationship. Living through the teenage years of both our children was a challenge, my breast cancer was a big one.  Moving and garage sales have set off some fireworks.  However, our SURVIVAL of these challenges actually brought us closer together.  Living with someone you love and respect for 35 years forges you into a team. My DH has strength in being logical, performing careful analysis of situations; I am an organizer but I never want to analyze (just do it!).  I also don't mind making the phone calls he dislikes. We are very different but yet an interesting mix. At the heart of it, we have the same core values and I guess that's what makes it work.

Now at this stage of life it is interesting to note we spent most of our working lives trying to achieve....acquisition of STUFF and achievements,promotions and accolades at work.  Well our priorities have changed drastically.  What we value now is quiet time with each other, appreciation of nature, savoring our conversations, our morning coffee, a glass of wine, sunsets.  None of the "stuff" matters much anymore.  Yes, i want to keep a few cherished things, but I find it funny that it is easier than I thought it would be just to let it all go.  Maybe fulltiming isn't for someone that has a lot of expectations. I feel we don't have expectations so much as an excitement and a commitment and A PLAN that it WILL work.  We'll see in less than 12 months and counting!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

More about me and my quest...


Most of my life has been dedicated to enjoying each and every day. This philosophy never became clearer that when my lovely bride of 34 years was diagnosed with breast cancer. It wasn't until this day that we both sensed our real mortality and realized that time would run out if we didn't seize the moment. So starting that day we spent a larger portion of our budget on travel. This was four years ago as my bride appears to be in complete remission.

Also, at this time our lives required some tweaking with regard to our retirement planning. We had to decide between "living for the moment" and "living below our means" (LBYM)... difficult to say the least. The first real decisions we made were to take one really big trip per year, to fly out east in the spring at least once a month to watch our athletic daughter play sports for a division 1 school in North Carolina , and we decided to pay off our house as fast as we could. A mix of living for the moment along with a smattering of frugality allowed us to do this.

The simplest way for us to reduce our expenses and pay off our mortgage really fast and early was to pay double our Principal and Interest. By paying double we reduced a 15 year mortgage by over 60 percent in months of payback. Paying this way reduced our disposable income forcing us to make life style changes to accommodate our new budget. This worked for us... as a result we now own our home outright!

More to come....