My children, despite their youth, are hardly affecting the average age of the local population. At Mass on Sunday, standing room only, I asked the octogenarian next to me how they managed in the summer with all the vacationers. “Oh, the snowbirds are gone by then. It’s actually less crowded.”
This has me pondering the transient lifestyles of the retired. How do I sign up for that?
It’s not that I don’t want to settle down and stop moving. There are plenty of advantages to that. It’s just that I haven’t figured out WHERE. I like plenty of places. But I haven’t found The Place. It. Where I would want to build a dream home and plant a vegetable garden and blackberry bushes and maybe own some chickens. Animals, though, are such a hassle if you want to run off and spend a month with your daughter and her newborn. Maybe I just need to live next door to a friendly farmer.
I suppose, if I hopped around from one resort cottage to another, I would miss my things and my style of decorating. Of course, that lifestyle would enable me to practice detachment. All I would truly own would be in the trunk of some two seater sportster. Can one be detached and own a BMW?
I guess most snowbirds own the homes they go between. That would mean picking TWO places to build a dream home and plant berries and two friendly farmers to live next door to. I don’t think finding two perfect places is any easier than finding one.
I guess right now it’s a good thing Uncle Sam is funding my quest to find paradise on earth. I suspect, in the end, I will conclude that such a place does not exist, and I will have to make do with whatever is before me.
Reit This Way 
Stay in the south, by all means. I've lived my entire life in the northeast, and the winters are getting to me…I'd love to retire to somewhere a bit warmer. I'm not talking Florida..maybe SC or even VA.
“Can one be detached and own a BMW?”
Hahahaha! That is rich, figuratively, of course!
I'm hoping we retire in Oklahoma or Texas. I love the Southwest. Vegas has been mentioned by my hubby. That would not be my first choice, but seeing as how our fearless leader is not welcome there, Vegas is beginning to look a little better.
I chuckled at the term snowbirds. We too have a packed church for Jan Feb and March-usually until Palm Sunday. Weekday Mass the same. Of course our parish is only 900 families. We have two other parishes that have 8,000+ nearby. Snowbirds come from Minn., Michigan, NY, NJ, VA, NC, PA,MA, Maine. It's interesting to me these seem to be the States we continually have people come from. Who knows why? We don't have stores – nothing interesting – we don't have very good resturants – compared to the gulf coast and we have very few residents. We have all sorts of water around us and as my husband is often saying we're the hole in the donut. All around us it can rain and we seem to have sunshine, or all around us are so many people but here there's quiet. Snowbirds more times than not rent. Those who have been coming here for years and bought their second home 10 or more years ago their real estates taxes aren't bad. We only moved here six years ago and unfortuantely housing was still on the rise so our taxes are high. Anything on the water is out of sight for many today. So why do I love it? Let me count the ways. Weather overall is great, I'm active inside and outside 12 months of the year, more family come to visit, less people live here and I love the ocean and the gulf coast could be NYC at rush hour. We have a major hospital not 10 min away, we have an (underused) international airport 15 min away we walk 1500 feet to the ocean, 1/2 mile to the river church is 3 miles away. supermarket 3 mi or wonderful town market 1/2 mile away; library,gas station, fire station, post office all in town. We have lots of parades for holidays our own police force and there's lots of politics to heat your blood!!!
You want to come HERE and live next door to ME. You know you do. 🙂
try getting a transfer to ft lewis. i NEVER thought i would like it here but am finding i really, really do!
r