My Background
I am a single woman in my 60’s, now retired; occasionally write an occasional post here, garden and dabble in crypto currency yield farming. My background professionally is in computer software and travel. I worked on reservation systems for airlines, hotels, cars, and trains early on, when flight benefits were still very valuable, to satisfy my gypsy wanderlust. Later, I consulted at more boring places like government agencies and private corporations leaving employment involuntarily after my job of nearly 10 years was “eliminated” in 2015. Like many people today, job loss was just part of living and occurred several times throughout my career. This last time was very different for me, though. The same week I was “eliminated”, my best friend of 50 years, killed herself. That combo turned my world upside down and I am still trying to find just what right-side-up is, after 7 years still am in some ways.
So, like Walt Whitman said, I seek the Untold Want and am voyaging forth to find what this last quarter or third of my life will be. You are welcome to join me on my voyage.
In the years since retirement I have:
- Sold or donated about 50+% of my belongings
- Sold my home in Denver without having a new place to go
- Stayed for a couple months in what was my grandmother’s and is now my cousins’ cottage on the shores of Lake Michigan
- Had an abbreviated stay in Padre Island because I couldn’t breathe without coughing my brains out due to a “Red Tide” event
- Landed on central Florida’s Atlantic coast for 10 days where I decided Winter would be nice
- Lived with my younger brother for a month
- Returned to Florida for the rest of 2015/16 Winter
- Bought a little house on the shores of Lake Michigan and added on a bath & closet
- Moved in and renovated the entire yard that was more jungle-like than yard-like
- Visited Lake Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico for a couple weeks and made some new friends
- Landed back on the Florida coast for 2016/17 Winter
- Returned to Michigan and got truly settled
- Returned to Mexico for 2017/18 Winter and bought a little house!
- Lost too many friends and relatives
- Adopted my impossibly wonderful cat, Cesil, my Oedipuss
- Spent two Winters in the frozen North surviving Covid, missing Mexico
- But put up holiday(s) decoration for the first time in years and sent Christmas cards again
- Got to spend some quality time as roommates again when my cousin stayed for some weeks
- Now anxiously awaiting Spring and getting back to the gardening.
Who knows what’s next?!