We have taken the house off the market through the holidays to keep our sanity in tact among holiday plans, and guests. It has been a major blessing. The trade off is that it puts the house sale ultimately farther away. We will go back on the market near Valentine’s Day and take it from there. By then, the Spring market will be in full swing and serious buyers will be out and about.
Meanwhile, friends and family are laying claim to the last bits of remaining furniture and my jewelry is selling nicely at the local jewelry store on consignment. The extra money is nice as we stack cash for the transition.
While we wait to go back on the market, Reuben has started hard core into his retirement paperwork. We paid to buy back his years of military service and got estimates on all the beautiful benefits we might expect once retired. We will have medical coverage for life, plus a small pension that will make the basis for a spartan but secure life after work.
And that’s where it gets interesting. Since we paid the Military service deposit, we are now eligible to retire any time we want starting NOW! We do not have to wait until the end of September if we don’t feel like it. Of course, now would be amazing, BUT, we still have a son to raise. He graduates in June and will be off on this own shortly thereafter. That makes it entirely possible that we might launch a couple of months early! So instead of T-38, we might actually be more like T-30. What a gift!
The difference will be when the house actually sells. You see, it looks like this: sell the house, THEN declare a retirement date. And the retirement date has to be at least 90 days in the future. So whenever the house sells, we will finalize the actual date. But the thought of launching early is very exciting! That makes us eager to get back on the market, for sure.
Meanwhile, I am taking this off-market time to get in some travel before I am chained to the house again with daily cleaning. We will have two days of RV time, and I will have a bit of time seeing corporate clients and creating amid inspiring settings in California.
Things are moving. Of course, I daydream about someone just knocking on the door and wanting to buy the house right now. LOL. I can dream.
So for now, Reuben is focused on learning the ins and outs of retirement processes and paperwork, and I am focused in creating videos, audio, articles, art and music and on my students and corporate clients. There is excitement in the air and movement happening everywhere. It will be here before we realize it!
