Lyle's Blog

Eighteen months ago we sold our home in the north country and drove our motorhome to Arizona via California. After six months we bought a home in Sun City, a retirement community. Of course we miss our family and friends and have traveled back for a month long visit but we have fast acclimated to desert living. My wife spent a week in Boise which solidified her reason for moving here. We do have family here and that is a big bonus. However I believe it pays to follow the society trends and people are moving south. The disintegration of the nuclear family has softened the bonds holding people in the locale where they were born or raised. My wife and I (like most of the old generation) have outlived our usefulness. As living costs are reasonable here and the weather and one level living
make being older easier to contend with, it made sense to be where we could accommodate our needs and yet afford to travel a couple times a year to visit those we left behind. The trade-off is a less than desirable relationship with our children and grandchildren. But it was years before I fully appreciated what my parents had been through and what they had done for me. My parents were a great blessing to myself and my siblings. My wife and I did what we could but not necessarily what we should. We’re not looking to be remembered well. We’re just hoping that after all is said and done they’ll understand a little more and realize it’s not as easy as it would seem at the onset of it all. If I’d known how difficult it was to be a good parent I wouldn’t have taken the responsibility on. I didn’t intend to fail. Maybe starting over at sixty five in Arizona is silly. But like the song says, sunshine on my shoulder make me happy; sunshine almost always makes me cry.