:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

srob004, I spent the first 18 years of life in Dubuque. Where in Iowa are you from? Parts of eastern Iowa had lots of snow on the ground at Christmas. I get back to Dubuque about every 2 months to visit my Dad.

Enjoy your visit to TV. Wish I could go there in January!

Thank you for posting. It statements like this that makes my desire to move to TV that much stronger. I can't wait to be in paradise.

I am happy for you the move was everything you hoped for and more.

Re:Schaumburger---I grew up in north central Iowa (Kossuth co.). then after school moved to Laurens, Ia for 28 y. Now living in Zionsville, In

Hi! I see you are from Mokena. We lived there in the mid-'70s. My wife has family in the southwest suburbs and my family is near Seneca.

We reserved a lot in Tamarind Grove and plan to start building in August. I plan to retire in April 2012.

The best is yet to come! :a040:

First Day--First Week
 

Our first day included having a moving company to come and help unload the truck we had rented to bring down. It was much faster than when we had loaded it. Then we took the U-Haul to a storage unit to put in storage some stuff that we don't need (probably won't ever need, but treasures my husband wouldn't part with). Went to the grocery store and bought Diet Coke, White Wine, Beer, and some munchies. Neighbors from our cul-de-sac and street behind us came over to say hello and glad we had made it. We had purchased the home in January but moved in in June. Rayburn Court in Hemingway is a wonderful place to live.

We unloaded stuff, often shaking our head and wondering why we had brought that along. My husband,who is slightly obessive compulsive, would get engrossed in looking at the stuff in the boxes and wonder where certain items were!

We headed for the square on Friday evening with the golf cart. Had a great time and a couple of drinks. Headed home and that's where we went wrong. It would be a very good thing to take the Villages Map along with you AND a flashlight. We took a wrong turn and ended up on Mallary Golf Course. Ended up going through two houses back yards to get to the street (sorry!). Then my husband started going up Morse Blvd North. Not a place a golf cart should be anytime. I got out and he went back up on the curb to get to the golf cart path. We finally made it back to our little place of heaven. We laugh about it often now, not so much while it was happening.

We didn't unload a lot of boxes. We had intended to be snowbirds, but the week we had closed on one house and had a moving sale, our other Missouri house burnt. We became Frogs. So our real estate agent found us the house of my dreams in Bonita. Went through the whole process again within four months (without the golf cart experience). We love our Columbia Way cul-de-sac neighbors and continue to maintain our Rayburn Court friendships.

Talk of the Villages is a tremendous source of information and friends. I found one that I can go to movies with from here. Don't stay in your house. Get out there and meet people. Soon your calendar will be so full that you will have to pencil in "me" time. Don't worry about unloading all the boxes at once, take time to relax.

Good luck to all of you with the dreams of coming to The Villages!! I look forward to a long and happy retirement here.:thumbup:

The only negative for me, as far as moving to The Villages was concerned, was leaving my three children and 6 grandchildren back in Maine. I know that this can be a serious issue for many folks who retire away from the family. We know of several couples who sold here and moved back up north because they missed their families too much. For me, keeping the e-mails going back and forth through cyberspace is every helpful, as are the phone calls that we all make when we need to hear a voice. And, there is always Skype if you just HAVE to see a face! I think we all just have to give this drastic a move some time......time to see if the lifestyle makes the sacrifices worth it. For my husband and me, both coming from childhoods that were not very happy, The Villages has provided the opportunity to have that second chance to be a kid again. Let's face it: By the time most of us arrive here we are nearing the last few good years of our lives. My feeling is that we do not get another chance, in another life, to finally "play" and have that childhood that many of us never had. So, no matter if you spend the first week unpacking, or if you spend it shopping or on The Squares, your eyes will fill with wonder, your ears will hear the mockingbirds in a nearby palm tree, and your heart will be filled with happiness when you realize that you just made one of the best moves of your life! I hope you enjoy this place as much as we have. There is just no other place on earth like The Villages and I, for one, feel very fortunate to live here. It's time for Hopscotch so "Bye" for now!

Congrats & good luck!
 

Glad to hear your home is complete and you are moving in, at least temporarily. Have tried to follow your posts on the process as we're HOPEFULLY moving this year. Happy for you and your wife!:coolsmiley: