Sharing the exploration of our lives
We are told a story about retirement. It is a tale full of quiet days, naps, and perhaps some regret that the job is not there to provide interest to the day. Patrick and I do not know who has this retirement, but it is not our experience. This first full year has been full of friends and family, events and excitement, visiting and visitors. We are so very grateful. Continue Reading →
It has been almost a year now that we have been living in Spain, and more than a year since we retired from our careers. Retirement has brought new perspectives on our work. The emphasis on that work in our lives is thrown into sharp relief by the move away from it, but also by our new life and new friends in Spain. Continue Reading →
It has been a fair few months since I last reported here. As one can imagine, a great deal has happened. Most of this is related to settling into the new home and the new life as a retired person. Here I will report on our experience with the last steps in our first annual Non-Lucrative Visa (NLV). Then I will reflect on some of our experiences of the culture. Continue Reading →
Life is what happens when we were making other plans. We thought our visit to Texas would be short. We thought our visa would be processed quickly. We spent four hot months in Texas. Our new home being finished, we executed our move ahead of our visa approval and received it two weeks after arriving in València. So, visas and relocation are our topics today. Continue Reading →
I may be a bit bold here in posting this before we have completed the process, but perhaps that is all part of the tension. Every story must have tension. We started our visa planning and document collection in March. We were ready to submit when we learned that the Consulate General of Spain in San Francisco was suffering from staffing challenges that put their visa processing, especially for retirement visas, on hold until late this year or early next. Upon advice of legal counsel, we changed our legal residence to David’s childhood home. This meant rebuilding the documents for the visa submission to Houston. We will detail the documents for the visa in a separate section as many readers will not need the detail. Continue Reading →
We had found a flat that met our needs and more. We established a contract to purchase and headed home to organize ourselves for this delightfully unexpected opportunity. Transactions in Spain, however, are not like transactions in the US. We had a lot to learn about power of attorney, the importance of relationships, reserves and deposits, naked property and usufruct, the need for cashier checks, and the clarity of closing. Continue Reading →
It was not supposed to happen in this order. We were very clear that our visit to València was to be an opportunity to view homes. We were not going to purchase anything. There was an order to this project, and we needed to keep the order. But this is not our first home purchase, and when you see it, you know. Continue Reading →
The journey to retirement is one that includes questions about location, and location includes questions about cost. We thought about Europe and we looked again at France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, but the research deepened with Spain. Continue Reading →
The first step on our journey to this third third of our lives was to consider the prospect of retirement. This took some reflection as we are both lifetime workers. There is a strong connection with work, both for me personally and for the culture in which I live. On the one hand, there is a question about retiring early. On the other hand there is a question about what it means to retire. Continue Reading →
Life can be challenging at times. I walk a path that was usually not anticipated. This path has led to retirement. Patrick and I will explore history in our third third of this life. Continue Reading →