[senior citizen]

All of your input was appreciated, however, actually we do not see our grandchildren that often now that they are in school plus active in extracurricular activities, etc........super busy young children, as well as the parents. We are not the type who need to see them weekly or even monthly.

I believe what my sister in law was trying to convey to me.....that as we all age, close proximity to our adult children might make it easier for all of us. No one wants to be dependent on their "kids".......certainly not us........but life happens. We've seen it.

No one wants to see them put their busy lives on hold to have to fly down for potential health emergencies as the parents age in place.

The Vermont family includes our daughter/her family. Everyone knows it is most likely the daughter who takes on the care or planning for the elderly parents, as I myself did for mine.

Our son and his young family live in Colorado; with his super busy business schedule.....flying coast to coast weekly, we would never expect them to run to our assistance (if needed) especially with a third baby on the way..............and two toddlers already in the home.

Yes, SKYPE IS GREAT......they all bring joy to us....and they know us via Skype.

I believe what my sister in law was trying to convey (as she has always loved Vermont since her twenties; now in her 70's) was to "winter in Florida or Arizona" which could be as a SNOW BIRD vs. full time residence.

She was telling me how HOT Arizona is. Her first year there she felt as if she would have a heart attack on the golf course. She is being honest about feeling feint at 106 degrees and summer hasn't even begun.....

So many of the frequent posters on TOTV are not now still in The Villages.........they have returned north or west to their other homes.

No doubt about it, the winter weather up north has been horrific this past winter.......no secret about that. Florida is very welcoming during the long cold winter months.

Last week we were sitting out on our deck to soak up some natural Vitamin D3 from the sunlight and hubby was "hot" at 60 degrees in the sunshine.........he had to cut short his sunbathing to 10 minutes, if that..........then the rains returned.

I am concerned that his Discoid Lupus would flare up again as it did during our first move to Florida......he has never liked the heat.......and especially NOT the humidity....while I have always rationalized it as a "reverse of seasons" meaning in the heat of summer, one would do things earlier in the mornings and stay in airconditioning in the noontime heat, etc. as we all stay in our heated homes all winter.........no one is out and about in a blizzard, that's for sure.

The humidity would not feel so great for my arthritis....I know that on humid days up here......but then again, in Vermont and the great northeast, if you don't like the weather , just wait a minute......and it will change. My sisterinlaw moved to Arizona to relieve her own arthritis pain.

We did LOVE the heated pool in our Villages, FL. rental home that one month of November....when the temperatures were PERFECT. We also loved driving back from the Albany N.Y. airport in December and seeing the beautiful Vermont mountains as we approached our town.

My mom who moved up here at age 61 had 30 years of retirement in her beloved "God's Country" as she would call it when she returned from her senior citizen "bus trips" all over the U.S. She is buried in our Green Mountains at age 91. Never thought she would get out of N.J. but she did.....moved up to be near us.

Vermont is a special world and one of simple beauty and nature as anyone who has taken to the roads can attest to.

We have friends who winter both in Arizona and in Florida.........but keep their primary residences up north...........

It was just an honest question........to see if anyone else got cold feet* prior to listing their home (in a very poor real estate market up here)...... *cold feet meaning having second thoughts.

I would definitely have radiant heat installed under floors if we were to build a primary residence in Vermont...along with gas fireplaces and a gas furnace as opposed to an oil burning furnace (so that we could leave the home in the winter months without worrying that the pipes would freeze up due to water circulating in the pipes and hotwater baseboards).........gas is cleaner and would have less problems with us leaving the home.

Another issue is "giving the house" away when no one is evicting us (said in jest) vs. waiting for an upturn in the real estate prices. It's a beautiful home. All of our neighbors are great. We have a history in this town since the early 1970's.


As far as my researching other areas, I can only think of the old saying something akin to "act in haste, repent at leisure".........been there, done that. Guilty.

When you are younger, moving is no big deal.........at our age now, just the thought can be exhausting. But she is correct, we have purged the home and got it ready for sale. It's a beautiful house, just too big for us at this stage in our lives............

Either way, a flat home is in our future, perhaps newly built, perhaps gently used.

I continue to marvel at the gross misinterpretations of simple questions.

No one on totv has ever flipped or flopped on an issue in their own minds?

My sister in law was correct about our move to Florida in 1973/returning 1974........stayed put in our next family home till 1994 (when our "kids" graduated college and married/relocated to Boston........while the other relocated outwest to go to grad school, etc.).

So, twenty years after that first "return from Florida" which actually happens quite often to people in Vermont and other northern states who miss the four seasons.........we did it again, this time without children but with my elderly widowed mother in tow.........we soon realized that her confusion was much more (early Alzheimers) so returned again to our support system and hers......as well as to our old neighborhood in Vermont.........which was the right decision......we were about to turn 50 and had our "new baby" to be concerned about.

So, now twenty years later..........having "been there, done that" twice before....with twenty year intervals inbetween, Vermont drawing us back like a magnet both times.........I don't think my question is all that unusual. Her letter to me prompted me to ask the question.

It is very expensive to move.........only to move back again.......my sister inlaw had some great points. I welcomed her suggestions.....actually, we were the first to leave New Jersey back in 1970....for Vermont.

We had visitors every single weekend as they all loved it up here, even when I was expecting our second child.........the sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, parents, inlaws.......friends.........they all came to Vermont willingly..................I cooked them all three meals a day.

We never had corporate moves whereby it was paid for by someone else.......so again, just don't want to make a mistake......as the words of our Venice realtor echo in my brain..........

"You don't have to buy in Florida in order to winter in Florida".......as we were selling our beautiful Venice beachfront condo.........to return "home" the second time.....(red tide bacteria caused breathing difficulties, etc. )....

I know there are others who feel the same way and wonder about their future moves........but they don't post out of fear of being diminished on this forum.

I myself can always see and understand all sides of any issue. Nothing is set in stone and no place on earth is perfect. Also, moving at age 25 from N.J. to VT. is super easy; moving at age 29 to Florida and back again to Vermont so that our 6 year old could begin 1st grade is also easy.

Even moving to Florida at age 49 with an elder in tow is not too bad, compared with our age at the moment which is pushing 70........and if my husband is correct that it will take us at least three years to sell this home (to get the price we want).....then even older.

We are not the 55+ age bracket.....or their 40 year old spouses....but older, with a lot of experience in moving and returning back, albeit with twenty years in between each move. Probably a lot cheaper just to vacation in the sunny climates..................I've gotten many p.m.'s from Villagers who left after a short spell in Florida to relocate to other areas............so it happens there too.

I also understand my sister in laws's concerns about climate change. We all have read up on that.

My mom would say that in a cold climate one could always put on extra clothing to get warm.......but hard to be comfortable in the heat...........so true, especially if one's electricity is down due to a storm.....

The people from Florida who bought our last home in 1994 after Hurricane Andrew destroyed their Miami "area" home; (can't remember her town)........said that all she wanted was to "get a breath of fresh air".......she was traumatized by that hurricane and having to stand in long lines for WATER to drink......no electricity for God knows how long......in the baking sun.

Ditto for friends we knew in Sebastian Florida (last hurricane)....after a month with no electricity, had to come up here to stay with her son. Finally sold and moved back north.

A climate controlled Florida is wonderful......but down the road, can anyone imagine surviving without airconditioning? Say due to a tornado or storm? In the north, one can have alternate heat sources......and most do, or else escape to Florida as the much dreaded snow birds.