Where would I live?

“Wait,” you say. “Didn’t you recently write about this?” Yes, yes I did. Here, in fact. Sadly, though, that post was based on the “where would I live if I won the lottery?” concept.

Maybe writing that post got me thinking again. Maybe it’s the fact that we’re hoping to get some offers on the in-laws’ house and so can see the end of our responsibilities here in this city. Maybe it’s the fact that vaccinations are rolling out all over the world, and we can start to see the end of this pandemic. Maybe, in cleaning up a house that the in-laws had lived in since 1962, I have realised that it would be manageable to clean things up here too, and be able to move on if we wanted. But for whatever reason, I got thinking about why we live where we live, and where would we like to live in our early, active years of retirement.

There are negatives to living in Wellington. The weather is a big one. So is being on a major fault-line. (Recent earthquakes off the northeast of the North Island were felt here, but didn’t cause any damage except to my nerves.) And the fact that we’ve lived here since 1993 when we returned from Thailand, so maybe it’s time for a change. But there are a lot of positives too. Our friends are here. (Not having children to help or support us when we’re old, friendships will be important for our emotional well-being.) The city has all the services we’ll need when we are old. It’s a vibrant little city, although we don’t always make full use of that vibrancy, I like knowing it’s there. And it’s an attractive city too. I like having a view.

I’ve realised that we need to sit down and make a list of what is important to us, and how important those things are, to help us make a decision about where to live. I like processes, and feeling I’ve considered all sides of an issue, even if emotions win out. But it’ll be hard getting The Husband to focus. Decisive in some ways, when it comes to big decisions, inertia might win out with him. But that’s what happened to his parents, and I don’t want to be like them! I suspect that I already know what I want, and what I’ve often said I wanted. I want the best of all worlds. Isn’t that always the case? I like rural settings, being surrounded by nature, and would love a place in the country. But I don’t really want to give up city life either. A place in both would be ideal. Maybe I’m the indecisive one?!