This week sees us look at a number of key milestones; including celebrating our 27 years of marriage and the sale of our family home. We also look at the importance of friendship in maintaining our wellbeing, especially as we get closer to our date for early retirement and the potential to be more isolated. On a lighter note, we then round off the week looking at the release of our latest VW magazine article.
Celebrating 27 years of marriage
Friday 13th of May marked our 27th wedding anniversary. Neither of us can believe where that time has gone. Not being too twee, but the years just seem to get better and better as time goes by. Looking back it is easy to see how our lives split down into very distinct phases. When we first met at Uni, we were impulsive, carefree and broke- with few worries. We married young (why wait when you are in love?), had two wonderful kids and pursued our careers and the associated monetary rewards.
Life has treated us really well and we are eternally grateful for how our lives together turned out. As time has progressed, and the kids have moved on, we now move into the next phase of our lives together. On reflection it feels like we have gone full circle in our life and relationship. As we move towards early retirements we are becoming more carefree in our thinking, have more time for us, will ultimately have less money and yet we feel a greater happiness in our lives!
To celebrate this milestone, we escaped to the mountains to the place where we love- Seathwaite Farm. Who says we don't know how to celebrate at £7 a night? We were both in agreement that we would prefer a camp fire, moonlit sky and a beer rather than a fancy hotel and spa break.
We had a great weekend, climbing another Wainwright, lunch at Sprinkle Tarn with a wild swim and a beer on the way back to the campsite. The weather was absolutely cracking, and so was the company.
Friendships
This week we have had lots of time to reflect on the power of friendships in our lives. All too often it is too easy to take our relationships for granted, without recognising the positive impact they have on our lives. One of the things that concerns us most about early retirement is maintaining these connections when we are on our travels. Without the regular contact with friends will we become too isolated?
Some of the things we have been grateful for this week were an impromptu BBQ on Saturday night where we drank far too much rose with really good friends, a burger and beer after work for Richard and the blokes from school and a lovely and unexpected gift from a work colleague for no other reason than simply pure kindness. These are all the relationships in our lives that we need to value, nurture and maintain as they are an essential component in our overall wellbeing.
House sale update
Wow things have moved quick with the house. We signed the contract last Saturday, it went live at lunch, we had our first viewing at 4pm, an asking price offer thereafter and an agreed sale in less than 3 days - shocking! What we don’t have however is a place to move to yet so the hunt is on. We know that this will not be easy in a short time frame, but know that we have the ultimate flexibility to break the chain and go into temporary accommodation to secure the sale if we need to. What we are not going to do is worry- early retirement awaits, and we have all the time in the world.
We were delighted to sell the house to a local couple with a young family looking for more room to bring up there children, just like we were 22 years ago! This seemed like a fitting conclusion to this part of our retirement journey.
The joy of house minimalism
One of the unexpected benefits of selling the house has been discovering the joys of living in a clutter free environment. Having to keep the house tidy at all times is a pain in the arse, but to come home to a beautifully clear house is a daily pleasure. Having to tidy up before going to bed when you are tired at the end of a long day is not fun, but waking up in a show house each morning is just ace! I think that we may have stumbled on something that we may have been missing all these years. Have a look here where we have written more about how to set about minimising the clutter in our lives.
VW bus magazine article.
Earlier this week the post man delivered the latest edition of VW bus magazine that we are featured in. Even though we had seen the proofs, nothing beats the feeling and satisfaction of actually seeing our words and pictures in print for the first time. We are so pleased with the final outcome of our efforts and hope that our words encourage and inspire people to get out and explore the amazing world we live in.
So that’s it for another week, with so much more to come in the next few weeks. Fingers crossed that the house sale continues to progress and we start to see what houses are out there to buy.
Have a great week,
Richard & Jackie
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