Summer 2019: Touchdown! We are floored!

Jane Q provided this wonderful update on our new home. Hard to believe that in less than than eight weeks this will be our next home.

This entire process has been a bit of a mystery and a surprise. Six months ago, there was little reason to think that we'd be anywhere but Towson, but an April trip to Appleton -- preceded by some online research -- started an intense, rapid process of building a custom home, starting with a contract, moving through design sessions linked to flights to Appleton, keeping up with email exchanges, phone calls and change orders, and finding, moving and paying the money needed to keep the project going. In that period, I also put together a two-week trip to Europe, bought a new car, planned (then cancelled) a cross-country drive to California, welcomed Jane home from her year in Tacoma, and kept working away at packing lists, packing, and moving dates.

Throughout this, I have upped my walking regimen, averaging over twenty miles a week and twenty-four hours a month. My track has shifted from West Towson to Towson University (a surprisingly walkable and attractive campus), and my tracking device has added ReLive tracking to my Strava feed.

The fiftieth reunion came and went, neither as good or as bad as it could have been, but clearly kind of a "is that all there is?" moment. Dena and I had a nice, convenient, AirBnB-like accommodation on Main Street in Eden. We ate twice at the Water Valley Inn. We made the seven-hour drive on Thursday and returned Sunday afternoon. The drive just west of State College, when Google maps took me off I-81, was magnificent. We stopped for gas on the State College by-pass, near my old running grounds in Toftrees, and then we cruised past the football stadium, just north of the main campus.

Gaby is in her eighth week with T Rowe Price. Jane is waiting to hear from Cristo Rey Milwaukee. TIAA finally moved the bulk of our retirement funds to R W Baird, leaving us with Social Security, a TIAA account, and my savings to carry us through to the next generation.

All is good, so all is joyful, as retirement becomes less of a theory and more of a practice.