Island Paradise Day 52 - by Stephane

Eight months into retirement and I have enjoyed every minute of it and have not missed my job one bit. I do however, get a little home sick from time to time and miss our friends and family. Funny thing is, I am not 100% sure what home is anymore. I sometimes think of Los Arroyos Verdes in Bucerias and the World Vacation Club in Conchas Chinas as "home." I think it is the familiarity, as we have been there several times, and there is comfort in knowing some of the people there. The fact that we have had friends and family come to visit us in certain places has also helped make our stays feel a little more like home. Also, there is a certain vibe to some places that is hard to define, that makes a place feel homey, enjoyable, and comfortable to me.

We have been pretty lucky since we left in October as we have had great weather everywhere we have been. The weather on the west coast of Mexico has been the best in my opinion, as it is very dependable in the winter months, not too hot and humid, very sunny, but with comfortable nights. I have also enjoyed the style of travel we have been doing, scouting out places, traveling on nice buses and smaller planes. I appreciate very much that Corrie has found awesome accommodations for us at good prices - except for one place. I have always known myself to be a city slicker and have never been much for roughing it or camping, and that place just confirmed that. I am not ashamed to say that I have a certain level of comfort that I am just not willing to live without for very long. I can probably rough it for a day or two, but that is it! So, Staying somewhere for at least a couple of months is a good way to get a better feel for a place, on the other hand, if you don't like it, it kind of sucks. Having done both long and short stays, I think that if you have never been to an area, it is better not pre-pay a longer stay, but rather give yourself the flexibility to get out of it if you don't like it.

Of all the places we have stayed, I love living on the water front best. I am not sure why I love it so much as I was born and raised in the city, not really close to the water. Regardless, I love staring at the water, the sound of the waves, walking on the beach, swimming, floating, and going out on boats. I have especially enjoyed the proximity to the reef and seeing all the marine life here at Jack Neal beach while snorkeling. I also love pelicans. I know, they are not the prettiest of birds, but I enjoy watching them fly in formation. I love to see them dive to catch fish. The fact that they are goofy looking adds to their charm for me. Apparently, in Costa Rica where they do not have military, they call pelicans the Costa Rican air force.

There are disadvantages to living in an ocean front property, but, falling asleep and waking up to the sound of the waves and drinking my morning coffee on a water front deck, especially right on the crystal clear ocean puts a smile on my face and peace in my heart.

One of the things I wanted to do in retirement was to stay at one of those expensive over water bungalows in Tahiti or somewhere, but hey, who needs to spend $1000 per night to stay in an over water bungalow in Tahiti when for two months we have had a covered deck on the Caribbean Sea with two hammocks and a rocking chair!

As for things I had planned to do in retirement, well, I seem to be even lazier than I thought. I feel no need to do anything productive yet. I have not spent as much time as I thought playing music, and learning Spanish is way harder than I thought it would be. I mostly hang out with my best friend and wife Corrie, doing whatever we are doing at the moment and that suites me fine. I have always loved just hanging out with her. We often have long conversations about our plans for the future, changing our plans often and then re-planning again (hey, why not, we have lots of time!)

We sometimes get on each other’s nerves, being together 24 hours a day can sometimes create some tension, but we have lived that way for a long time and are used to it, and we are lucky that we like each other’s company so much. I retired from a job that required a lot of business travel and that used to put a strain on our relationship, so I am so glad to be done with that. It makes our life together much better.

I would say that once in a while I do worry about money. We are after all on a two star retirement plan. But Corrie promptly puts everything in perspective and reminds me that we have a lot more money than most people when they retire. In fact, I sometimes catch myself thinking that this life is not "real life," and one day I will have to wake up from this wonderful dream and go back to some sort of daily stressful grind. But then I realize that "real" life is not an objective concept, and that my life can be whatever I want it to be, and I can decide to live a full and happy life. I don't have to give in to the unreal aspiration of the "perfect” life. My life right now is as real as it gets and it is pretty damn wonderful!

I do think that having some kind of purpose or deeper meaning in life, or even short productive things to do is probably important: whether it is some type of work or volunteering or more substantial hobbies. I do have music, but I probably will need to find other meaningful things at some point. But in the famous words of BONO: "I still haven't found what I'm looking for," and for now, that's ok.