The Dream

Ted - Like most couples, upon reaching their late 50’s, Judy and I enjoyed discussing the possibilities of retirement or rather; what would retirement look like for us. She is an actor and I am co-owner of a small business and we are not wealthy. We have two children and, at that time, one grandchild and no hobbies or pastimes other than volunteer work. On our 30^th anniversary, we sat at a restaurant and conjured up memories of each year together going back to 1977. Other than our children, every lasting memory involved travel. Thus, travel would inevitably play a major role in our life after I sold my business. As we fantasized, I kept getting hung up on the money involved.  How could we see the places we dreamed of on a fixed income? An avid reader of the Wall Street Journal, I enjoyed their periodic stories featuring creative ways to retire. On October 22, 2012, they published a story about Lynne and Tim Martin entitled, “The Let’s-Sell-Our-House-And-See-The-World-Retirement” which hit me like a thunderbolt.  The only way we could see the world as we hoped would be to eliminate most of the fixed expenses of a home. If, like Lynne and Tim, we sold our house, cars and furnishings, plus my half of the business, our fixed expenses would travel with us. As it turns out, so many people were fascinated by Lynne’s story that she wrote a book in 2014 titled “Home Sweet Anywhere” which you can find in the links section of this blog.

Judy - Several years ago a dear friend lent me the book Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman. I was thrilled!  Here was a woman who did what I dreamed of—took off to live in different countries, exploring the culture and getting to know the locals!  Well, there were some differences.  She was divorced and went alone.  I am happily married and wanted to travel with Ted.  And she was a children’s author, so she had some income.  Seemed impossible.  I mentioned it to Ted, but he shrugged it off. Still, the idea was wedged in my brain.  I don’t know why I have such wanderlust, but I’m never ready to come home when we travel.  Of course I miss my kids, but I want them to join ME.  To be footloose and free of possessions (an odd dream from a hoarder who had a house full of cherished stuff she’d collected) seemed like a life Ted and I could get into.  But he had shrugged it off.  Years later, I heard an interview—NPR maybe? - about a couple who sold everything and began to travel, staying in cities for months at a time.  Lynne and Tim Martin had done it!  I looked up the article about them in the Wall Street Journal, and, wonder of wonders:  Ted had seen it, too!  Furthermore, he wanted to do it! We ordered their book and devoured it.