Island Paradise Day 44

One thing we are really learning about a two star retirement is that we cannot have everything we want. I am OK with that, because a two star retirement gives me more of what I want sooner than would a five star retirement. I kind of look at it in the same way as CPP payments. You can take your pension at 60 (instead of 65) but you get less. I read that statistically, you have a better chance of collecting more money if you take less early than wait the extra five years for a bigger amount. Well, so it is with our retirement plan. We get to retire early, but we have a little less to spend. It is worth it to me because, let’s face it folks, any one of us in our fifties could be dead in 10 years, so I just don’t want to miss out on all the fun!

They say that if you can make it to age 65, then chances are you will live to an average lifespan, so it makes sense to me to take these 10 years and do all I can on the bucket list rather than chance working day in and day out only to drop dead two weeks after I retire...I know that may sound cynical, but I guess I am a tad jaded by the early death of both of my parents.

Actually, there are very few things on my bucket list that I have not already done, but there are still a few places I want to go, a book to publish, and another degree to get. Yikes, I better get busy!
Steph only has a few things on his whole list – and one of them has been fulfilled these past two months. He wanted to live on a beach in the Caribbean. All in all I would say it has been a great experience, and we both look forward to his other “must do’s”…Island hopping on a small boat (in Greece, Croatia, or Panama), and a two week cruise on the Aranui, a supply/cruise ship that travels to the Marquesas Islands.

Anyway, choosing to retire early is about ensuring we have time to see and do the things we want to do before we die, and while we still have good legs for walking. When I am older and less able physically, that will be my time for more schooling, book writing, cuddling grandbabies, and knitting. (OK maybe not knitting). I have never been much of an artsy craftsy person, though I certainly appreciate those who have the talent. Heck, maybe I will add 'learn to knit' to my bucket list!

Early retirement has required some compromises and tradeoffs. For example, in order to be able to travel a lot we have to sacrifice seeing our friends more often. We like our friends and socializing is very important to us. On the other hand, we have realized that we are capable of making new friends along the way. Another trade off has been the housing situation. In order to retire early we had to be mortgage free so that while traveling we can have rental income. That means we have to have a house with a basement suite. Truly, we would rather not have people living below us – but working 10 more years is worse, so it is a fair trade off. If we go home and stay home, where day to day living is more expensive, we have to trade cheap fruits and vegetables and $2 Filet Mignon for more time with family and friends. Another trade off. If we live in Mexico, we can afford all the luxuries we want – but have to accept crime as a fact of life. If we live in Utila, we can listen to the ocean waves every second of every day, and eat out whenever we want, but we would miss the cool nights and convenience of a car. Trade offs.

For us, the decision to retire in our early fifties was not easy. But not once (yet) have we regretted it. We accept that we cannot have it all, but I am pretty sure we have it pretty good. We are having the time of our lives, doing the very things that many people only dream about. There have been ups and downs, but the adventure has just only begun. We are a full 7 months into a two year travel itinerary which includes stops in Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Greece, South Africa, and who knows – maybe even Newfoundland! (That is an inside joke. I want to go there, and Steph refuses because he says it is too cold. But after all this hot sweaty weather in Utila I am thinking he might be feeling like Newfoundland would be a nice change.)

The other thing we have come to accept is that we change our minds a lot. (I like to believe we are just being flexible.) For example, we were supposed to be going to Panama and Colombia next, but then a House Sitting opportunity arose and we decided to take it, so instead, for now, we are going to Lake Chapala, Mexico. Flexibility is important because if you can take advantage of seat sales, or other opportunities, you can keep costs down, and more importantly, spontaneity opens the door to experiences you could never have dreamed up on your own.

The important thing for me is to remind myself that there is nothing on this earth I posses that I can take with me when I die. It is experiences and relationships that make us rich. My mother died when she was only sixty-six. For the better part of the last decade before she passed, every time I would go visit her, she would talk about what she was going to do when her husband Paul died. "When Paul dies," she would say, "I am going to bring out the nice pink towels you bought me. I don't dare do it now or he will come in from gardening and wreck them with his dirty hands." Two years after my mom died, so did her husband Paul. When my siblings and I went to clean out their house, I did the bathroom. There, folded neatly in the closet, were mom's pretty pink towels, never used.

Life is short. Bring out the pink towels now. Don't put off the things you dream of doing. Just do them!