It’s a Big World

When I was in high school and college, I was convinced that when I was finished—when I was out on my own and a real adult—I would be MOVING AWAY. Maybe to NYC for adventure. Maybe to Washington, D.C. for the big city atmosphere, but milder weather. I wasn’t really sure, but I had aspirations to live elsewhere.

But by the time I graduated, I had a boyfriend (Michael!) whom I wasn’t interested in ditching. And well, he wasn’t interested in moving. To top it all off, I knew I had a job offer coming from a company I had interned with the summer before. The dreams of moving were set aside to take the practical route in life. I guess you could say it was safe.

A year later, Michael and I bought a condo, and thus put down roots just 10-15 minutes from where we both grew up (separately. We were in different school districts and never met until sophomore year of college).

I sometimes wonder what my life would look like if I had picked up and moved like I had planned. I had originally wanted to go out of state for college, but found it to be cost-prohibitive. A state school offered me a ton of scholarship money and good financial aid, and I made the sensible decision to go there and emerge from four years of college with ~$15k of debt instead of going to the University of Delaware and coming out with ~$80k. Now THAT is a decision that I have never second guessed. In fact, I bow down at the feet of my 17-year-old self and thank her for that one, because holy shit, I cannot imagine.

Anyway, a few years into our adult lives, and Michael and I got comfortable. And we were talking about getting married and having kids, and… our home was here. Our families were here. Why would we pick up and start a new life for no reason? Why would we leave everyone? We never really seriously considered it.

Now that we have Nora and a house, I think we’re here for the long haul. Here’s the thing: For the most part, we really love where we live. Sure, the winters are a little too long, but we have four distinct seasons, which is something we both absolutely love about the Northeast. And we are close with our families, whom we get to see on a regular basis. We have good jobs, and friends.

(Source: www.svpply.com)

If I could pick all of that up—if I could move everyone—and take it with me, I might consider it. I still have dreams of exploring different places, but I don’t know if it would be through a move, or just a LOT of travel. It depends what the future holds. When we’re retired and our children are grown, where will they be? If they choose to stay here like we did, it will be difficult to ever leave. If they scatter elsewhere, then we might be more inclined to live somewhere else ourselves.

As for where I would ultimately want to live? I don’t know that I’ve seen enough of the world to really make that decision. And out of the places I’ve seen, it is still really difficult to choose. We’ve seen so many awesome places, and I think I always have a little inkling of the “I could totally live here” feeling wherever we go.

Well, except for Las Vegas. I could never live there. :)

I read a Wall Street Journal article recently, authored by a retiree who has no home, but by choice. She and her husband sold their house and most of their belongings, and they now spend their lives living in different countries, several weeks at a time. Two months in Paris, two months in London, with a few weeks in Argentina or Mexico or Turkey or the good ol’ U.S.A. They hop around, and I can’t help but think how fun that would be… but also wonder if I could ever do such a thing. When we travel, don’t get me wrong, I enjoy it—but there always comes a point when I feel like, “OK, enough, I’m ready to go home.” Maybe it’s different if you don’t feel pressure to get out and DO things everyday, but it’s still hard to imagine a life where you don’t have a real home to return to.

Alternately, I work with someone whose in-laws are retired and live aboard The World. Have you ever heard of this before? It’s basically a cruise ship full of condos (apartments? whatever) that you buy. That’s right, you can own property aboard this floating community. You have a home, but your home sails all around the world. Looking at their routes over the last few years is pretty incredible. Can you imagine such a life, imagine what all you would see in just a couple of years? That sounds like a pretty sweet deal.

I don’t know what the future holds, and where we will end up. All I know is that I’m pretty content with where we are right now. I have everything I need.

What about you? Have you stuck close to home, or did you venture off to somewhere altogether different? If you could live anywhere, and money was no object, where would you choose?

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I am participating in NaBloPoMo. In other words, I have committed to blogging every day during the month of November. I can’t guarantee I’ll succeed, but I’m going to try! If you’d like to join me (and a TON of others), you can click here to sign up (you only have until 11/5 to do so). Today’s writing prompt was, “If you could live anywhere, where would it be?”