No Regrets

I recently read an article that posed the question "20 years from now, what would you wish you would have done?"  The gist of the article, of course, is to live a life with no regrets.  But after reading it, I realized that for some of us that time frame is much, much smaller.

Most of us work hard all of our lives so that we can enjoy our retirement.  My mom's husband is 11 years older than her.  She was only 54 when my  step-dad retired.  When they first retired, they  gave up their home and became full-time RV-er's.  At first, they went to Florida every winter with their travel trailer.  The second winter in Florida, they met some people who were there for just a couple of weeks before they headed to Phoenix where they stayed for winter.  The next winter, Mom and Bud decided to take a long winter trip and head to Phoenix to visit their new friends before heading to Florida.  After visiting their friends, they decided that Phoenix was more their style and it was their new winter home.

For a few years, they would stay 6 months in Arizona and then 6 months in Indy.  They ultimately decided to give up their travel trailer, bought a park model and started living full-time in Arizona.  We moved them back to Indy in 2012 when they both started having some health issues so that they could be closer to our family for the help they needed.  They had nearly 25 years of good health in retirement and did all the things they enjoyed.

Doug and I always thought that we would spend winters in a warm, sunny climate.  Then in 2008, he had to retire because of his neck and back.  In 2009, he was diagnosed with Stage IIIA lung cancer.  At that time, we didn't know how long he would make it.  We decided that because we didn't know if we would be able to have the retirement that we had always planned, we would travel now.  There are many reasons for taking a vacation but the main reason I take vacation is to spend more time with my husband.  None of us really know how much time we have on this planet.  Anything can happen at any time, but for us it seemed urgent.  We have seen many beautiful National Parks, out of the way places and spent many hours at the beach.   He responded well to treatment and sometimes it's hard to believe that it's been 5 years since his diagnosis.

We are grateful for the time we have been given but we continue to take our trips to see this beautiful country and to enjoy our time together.  Live your life, in whatever way that means to you.  Don't have regrets.