Beginning this blog is one more sign that our dreams are coming true. Cory and I have planned our retirement for over a year, ever since I read Lynne and Tim Martin's blog about Home Free retirement at http://homefreeadventures.com/ . I went home that night over a year ago and told my long-suffering husband, "This is it! This is what I want to do!"  They really have inspired us to make our dream of travel and seeing the world come true. They gave us a plan, step-by-step, for selling the house, shedding all the junk, and embarking on a new chapter in our lives. I highly recommend their blog and Lynne's new book Home Sweet Anywhere, due out in April.

Yes, we have a dream, and we are slowly but surely turning it into a reality. After talking and planning for over a year, we are putting the plan in place. We've listed and sold the house with a realtor, turned in our retirement notices, told our family and friends we were leaving, bought new suitcases, made some reservations and purchased a half dozen travel books. For the next few weeks, we will finish the details of packing and wrapping up our jobs, saying goodbye to friends and family. 

Cory was concerned about selling the house and disposing of our 20+ years of accumulated possessions. The reality is that was easiest thing we've done! The house sold the first day it went on the market, thanks to our amazing real estate agent, Kevin Sheehan, who posted professional pictures.   The new owners saw the pictures that morning, came to see the house and made an offer by noon. That was done. The next job was to liquidate. Our friends, Patsy and Shenen from Matorelli Madness Estate Sales did a fantastic job of inventorying and selling everything in less than a week. I walked into a clean and empty house on the Monday after the sale. It's quite liberating to shuck off all the possessions and move on.

Many have asked me about Moogie, our little Japanese Chin, and where he would live. I asked friends and neighbors if they would give him a home, but no one was in a position to take him in. Luckily, the people who bought our house fell in love with him when they were viewing the house. They are giving him a new home in his "old" house! They have 4 dogs but welcome one more to their family. I'm happy that he'll have a loving home in familiar surroundings.

I'm antsy to leave, to get on a plane and start my new life in new places, places I've never seen and am longing to explore.  I calmly maintain the placid routine of work and chores, but inside I'm humming and grinning with excitement. I'm going to Europe! to live! to see everything! I feel like a 20-something again, bubbling over with excitement and the wonder of every new day and what it holds for me. After so many years of responsibility, child-rearing and solid citizenship, I am now as excited about the future as I was in my twenties when I took my first college trip abroad. Yes, home free retirement is rejuvenating. I feel as if I've found the fountain of youth.