So many times, we tell ourselves: "When I have more time, I'll finally go to Yellowstone." or "I haven't seen Aunt Milly and Steve in ages, I should go visit them." And then, 5 years have gone by and we've still not been to Yellowstone and we still haven't seen that friend or family member. Time has a funny way of just slipping away like that. What's worse is every year it feels like we have even less free time to do those sorts of things that we keep putting off because we can't find the time. Well, that's ending now. We are done telling ourselves that we'll do this or that or visit with this friend or that family once we have more time. The hard truth is, we will never have any more time. We want to see each of you that we keep saying "You should come visit!" to each other and then never visiting. We don't want it come to pass that we finally find that free time when we're retired. So, we're retiring now. Sorta. We're gonna practice it, in a sense.
Practicing means leaving our jobs, moving out of our house and into our truck, and hitting the road indefinitely. Sherpa is outfitted for some pretty rad adventures, and his first major one is to get us to each of you who want a visit, no matter how short. We'll also be making some personal pit stops along the way at any national park we can get our boots on.
Here's how we envision it: Someday soon on a pre-arranged day, we'll come knocking at your door, probably a little dusty and road-worn. We can stay as long or as short as you like, depending on what your schedule's like and where our next pit stop is. During our time with you, we want to reminisce about the good times we've had and also catch up and get to know the "new" you. Maybe even meet for the first time! It will all be very exciting. We'd also love to check out your city or town and do some sightseeing. We are road-tripping after all. We can either do this together or when you're busy with day to day responsibilities. We don't want to be a burden and definitely don't expect you to take a week off of work just to play tour guide. Finally, we want to get our hands dirty. We'll be in a rare position of very little daily commitments and that means plenty of time for projects. What are you working on or dreaming of? Whether it's remodeling the bathroom or tilling the garden or drawing up plans to take over the world, we want to get involved and learn new things. Don't be shy about putting us to work!
If you want to be a stop, please fill out the "Contact" form on our blog or click that nifty link. We'll exchange some emails with you to figure out a good time to come visit that corresponds with our loose itinerary and then we'll add you to this map. We want to reconnect, badly. Even if you can't host us on our journey, we'd still love to hear from you and meet for coffee.
Now, about this whole Practice Retirement idea.
When you retire, you stop working, or at least stop working full time. In the past, that usually meant living off of a pension. It more recently means living off of your savings and Social Security. We don't think we can hope to receive any Social Security, so we'll likely have to live off our investments alone once we leave the work force. The idea of living off of a limited sum of money indefinitely is terrifying for just about everyone, but fear of the unknown is always a factor. Practice makes perfect and personal finance is no exemption. Though it's a little unsettling for many people when they hear that we're leaving our well paying jobs and opportunities at career advancement to live off our savings, it's really a pretty feasible idea that most people try eventually, just usually not in their twenties.
So, let us practice by visiting with you, dearest friends and family and beloved lost acquaintances, strangers, and lovers. Let us experience Xenia in its beautiful fullness with you, so that we can repay the kindness when we settle down. Let's catch up and talk about all the things life has thrown at us. Let's practice together. Let us make time.
Love,
Chelsea and Corbin