Reflections on Transitions and Retirement

We are in a major life transition. We are in process of leaving the world of work, the people and surroundings we've known most of our lives, family members, friends, colleagues, neighbors; the university, Philadelphia, the metropolitan Northeast. We are turning our backs to the hectic urban/suburban scene to embrace a more relaxed rural way of life: We are moving to retire to the green, rolling hills at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Not all transitions are easy, but this one feels good. We decided we wanted to retire in a quiet, serene and beautiful surrounding. We wanted to live in a place where we could pursue our goals of living a healthy life with simple pleasures. We wanted to enjoy the challenges of hard physical labor and its rewards before we no longer could do such work, before our knees are too stiff with arthritis and before we become too frail to live alone. We felt this is our chance; our window of opportunity to pursue our dreams -- before it is too late! Maybe we can have 5 or 10 years, and if we are really lucky, maybe a few more, but we don't want to be greedy...

As children we both loved the country. Bob spent many summers in the country with his family in the small village of Ripton in Vermont. My parents also took my sisters and me to a farm. Yet we lived in Germany and we visited a farm in Bavaria, where I was allowed to work side by side with the farmer's family raking hay, staking it onto the wagon, and riding home on the tractor. To this day, I love the smell of hay; it sets off fond memories of summer bliss. So both of us are coming full circle, reliving the summer dreams of our childhood in the autumn of our lives.

Why is our transition to retirement so easy, while some other people find it difficult?

First, our retirement is voluntary. Unlike many people who are losing their jobs, and are pushed into early retirement with worries and insecurity, we chose to retire.

Second, we carefully prepared for it. We saved as much as we could; we reflected on our values; we researched our options. We knew we didn't want to stay in SJ. There is too much traffic, housing is too expensive, life is too commercial---and most of all there are no mountains. (Bob likes to climb them and I love to look at them from below) Mountains, we decided were a necessary part of our retirement setting.

Third, we decided we wanted to opt out of the industrial food production. We wanted to grow our own food, our own vegetables. Last year we tested whether we could do this and joined a community garden in our neighborhood. We successfully harvested beautiful vegetables over the summer, gave away a lot, and still had more to freeze for the winter. This experience gave us the confidence that we could do it.

But one aspect of our planned move troubled us. We always knew that family and friends were extremely important to us. How could we balance our desire for self-reliance and solitude with our need to be close to those we care for deeply?

So, over the past two years we explored the Catskills to be with Eleanor; the hills of PA to be near Dave; the rural country-side in Maryland to be near John; and finally, we visited Nic and Alison in Charlottesville, VA, one of the "10 best places to retire in the U.S." As we started to look around, we fell in love with Nelson County, a beautiful, lush green agricultural county in Central Virginia, nestled below the Blue Ridge Parkway between Charlottesville and Lynchburg, VA. It is a quiet place, yet it also has the Wintergreen Resort which offers activities for visitors who enjoy skiing, golf, tennis, horseback riding, guided nature walks, or cultural events, like concerts. Nelson's natural beauty and its man-made attractions, we hoped, will draw family and friends to want to come and visit us. We wanted to make it comfortable and inviting, so we had to find a place that would meet all our requirements.

We believe, we found it. That made this transition so much easier. We are confident that we made the right decision. We bought a property that will keep us busy, but is not too big to overwhelm us. It seems that our kids and grandkids are enjoying our new home and we are delighted that they enjoyed their visit and want to come back. And in terms of friends, we have marked our calendar for our first visitors from Rutgers in October. (smile)

Not only is the natural scenery breathtakingly beautiful to enjoy and to delight in, we are also glad to have made new friends and met many generous and kind people who make us feel welcome and at home.

Although it's taking longer than I hoped to have all our belongings in one place, this transition is filled with anticipation and a growing love for our new little home and our neue Heimat at the foot the Blue Ridge mountains.