You keep your car keys and come and go as you please but let the Concierge know when you leave and when you return.
Interesting. I keep having mixed feelings about living alone in the sticks versus freeing myself from the daily drudge to go do what I want--when I want--and having humans around for those rare times I feel like seeing another face (no mask reference intended.) Of course, with COVID, I'm glad I ended up here. And all any of us really have is the reality of our circumstances versus the fantasy of the "what if?"
Ok, but you had the money to buy that LTCI. Lon, like I've told you before, not every Senior in the U.S. had/has or made the income you did. I sure didn't!
I've admired your restraint in not asking the man how much he has spent on rodeos and related equipment. We all make choices in life. And there are lots of people who could not afford that hobby.
And, John, there are a lot of people who can afford rodeo. Some folks just have to make a choice in how they spend their money. There are Seniors that are "Snowbirds" that spend a lot of money upkeeping more than one home. As far as my rodeo hobby went, all of my horse tack was bought at an auction. All new, but no brand name stuff. Trailer was a used one that I had to rewire completely. My truck was old. IOW, I took my lunch to work everyday. I did things like that to save money to accommodate my hobby. I only went to rodeos around the area I lived. Don't most everyone spend money they don't have? There are some folks that think my wife and I are rich, because we have a 20 ft. powerboat. But, what they don't know is.........it's a 1992, which definitely isn't new. But, we do put money into it for repairs/maintenance, but that just part of owning a boat.
Perhaps you got better breaks in life than I did. Now, I did say "perhaps". Unlike my wife, and her two AA Degrees and Bachelors Degree, college and I didn't get along. As far as "whose fault is that" question. Definitely mine. Hey, I'm being honest. Then again, I didn't want to travel for work. Didn't want to work weekends. And, would only work day shift. Sometimes, self-made restrictions can make life tough.
Yup. We all exist relative to each other on a continuum, and we all move along it...not necessarily always in the same direction. I saw your comment to Lon. I did not "get along" with college, either. I could not fathom how my high school friends knew what they wanted to do at that age. I went to night classes starting at age 23 and got my Associates while working full time (best thing that ever happened to me.) But I also did self-study in the library before/during/after to put myself in better positions and to learn more once I got them. In a sense, these conversations remind me of what I love about our capitalist system. We can all chose the level of effort and the sacrifices we are willing to make to achieve the lifestyles we desire (I never wanted to travel or relocate, either.) I've seen people kill themselves to earn more money (they made Work their Life,) while it sounds like you & I consciously sought a different balance. And in the end, that's really what it is.
WOW You poor guy. It's gotta be tough sailing with a old 1992 TWENTY FOOT POWER BOAT. There are POOR Seniors struggling with their eight foot ROW BOATS.
Actually, Lon, when I put the throttle down, our boat can really "get up and go". The bow comes up, I trim it down and away we go at 28 mph flying down the local lake. When we take it in this coming Spring for "summerization", meaning putting all hose clamps back on, we are going to have a new prop put on. The prop we have is for sea level (in Florida, where we use to live), not high altitudes (almost 6,000 ft) where we live and boat now. With the new prop, we will get speeds up around 46 mph or a little more.