We will be living in the RV for the week between leaving the old house and being able to move into in the new one. While not really a vacation, it will be nice to take a break from cleaning and packing.
As April comes to a close, I look back on the past four months of the New Year and must pause. It has been a very eventful time, including the death of my dad, this move, taking Tai Chi lessons, watching over my youngest daughter's new cocker spaniel.....if this pace keeps up I will need to pick the word, nap, for 2016.
In two months we pack up the RV again and head to Portland for the summer. I doubt the new house will even be fully unpacked by then, but we have been planning this trip for 10 months, well before the thought of a move crossed our mind. It will be fun to hit the road again and have new experiences as well as see old friends.
I am also approaching the 5 year mark for this blog. It is time for the word, move to apply to these pages. It is time for me to move on to something else. It is time for Satisfying Retirement to retire.
Two books, contributions to three others, national magazine articles, 660 posts, 50,000 views per month, and over 1.7 million page views since the beginning: I feel good about what has happened here. I feel especially good, and eternally grateful, to those readers who have helped me make this blog a pleasure to write and so much fun to read and respond to the incredible comments (over 14,000 at last count).
There has been a real community built here, folks with all sorts of opinions, ideas and insights. The quality and level of discourse has always been a positive. Unlike too many other blogs, we have always been respectful and supportive of each other, even when we disagree. That is too rare in today's world; the fact that it was alive on these pages is very satisfying.
I have no idea what I will be doing next. With settling into a new house and a new neighborhood, and then being gone until early September, I won't even have time to give it much thought until after Labor Day. Then, we will see.
I will leave the blog right here for the foreseeable future. Feel free to come back and re-read old favorites or spend some time reading posts you might have missed over the past 5 years.
Please feel free to leave a comment or your thoughts on this post. With my Internet link being disconnected this weekend I may not be able to respond to each, but know that I will read what you write and treasure your involvement.
My warmest regards, deepest respect, and a heartfelt thanks to you. My Satisfying Retirement would have been much less joyful and rich without these last 5 years of having you be part of my family.
Goodbye, and Godspeed.
