ain't go no home!
 

50+ nirvana has been achieved, closed today on the sale of the now shamefully large house! I'm sitting amongst a sea of boxes in a townhouse 1/4 the size. Kids are in college and the dog is dead. I'm truly 50 ( well okay 51) now!


I ain't got no home (youtube)

Whoa! Congrats, man! I sold my 4,000 square foot seven bedroom monstrosity and close October 15. Moving into a 1200 sq ft 3 bedroom apartment until my youngest gets out of high school in June. Once he's safely tucked away into college (or the Navy :) ) next fall, I'm bailing out of the rust belt and moving to Arizona.

Life is good!

High Five!

That's where I thought I would be by now. We had our 4th and what we thought was last child in 1985. But we slipped up and had a 5th in '92 and so now I'm 53 with a 16 yr old and she picked out a new puppy 4 years ago. Otherwise all of my children would be 23+ and there would be no dog.

Back in the md-90s I postured that I would find it difficult to have a teen-age child while in my 50s. I was right.

I've heard it said that "life begins when the last kid leaves home and the dog dies." Now, it's time to start taking those bike trips in Europe.

When I was 53 I had a 19 yr. old and two 15 yr. olds at home,
and a cat. He's a great cat. :D

Oops, best not forget the wife...she's the best!

Good for you too!

This one was 3600sqft but with only two people in it it was like a empty warehouse with $9000 a year taxes. I have been sweating bullets! Every time there has been a burp or fart on Wall Street the closing got delayed.

Arizona sounds nice, we are staying here for another 10 years or so . The town house is temporary, I bought a city lot two years ago along a bike path, I'm going to build a small house on it starting in November.

The reality of it is that kids who leave home usually return at least once and often more than once.:twitchy:

Our oldest son (40) left at age 20 and has managed to never return except for visits. His brother (33) left home at 18 but has been back more times than I can count, although this time it has lasted 5 years; so maybe it'll stick.:rolleyes: My wife used to call him "the boomerang son".

I spawned a Philosophy Major, If he stays in college through his PHD, My wife and I figure we have about 6 more years to ourselves. Beyond that the best we can hope for is he will marry well , otherwise we'll never get rid of him :o

These kids have a much harder time than when we were that age. Back then a kid could get a job that actually paid a living wage.:50:

Keep my room ready. I'm moving in when the bottom falls out, which could be any time now. Tom Bombadil can have me every other weekend.

Yup, it could be any day now. Yay! I finally have a riding partner.:thumb:

Noooooooooooooooo.


You're supposed to replace each kid with a dog.

I tried that. They said I could take a dog but I couldn't leave the kid!!!

Congrats on the new Life Event. My wife and I something similar last year - we sold our 3200 sq/ft two-story, four bedroom home that sat on 8 beautiful acres and moved to a newly constructed 2000 sq/ft ranch home that sits on precisely .31 acre in a gorgeous subdivision.

And - we could not be happier!

Our kids are grown and gone (the youngest is a Junior at OSU Columbus) and we have two chihuahua's who keep us company. We also have grandchildren (5) and lots of family so our life, while in some ways a little busier, is the best yet.

Good for you! Feels great, doesn't it? :thumb:

I could see the finish line...
 

These things must be universal. Buried the dog two years ago, dropped the youngest off at college 4 weeks ago, came back home and accepted an offer on my practice, called the realtor to sell the now empty house, started to get back into cycling -life was GOOD! Last Wednesday my prodigal son shows up in the driveway. told us that college was too stressful. Today, after 12 years of private school and a Natl. Merit Scholarship, he got a job (and I'm not making this up) as a dishwasher at a Marriott. Wife says he needs us here for 'stability' until he matures more.
Signs down, contracts torn up, the endless desert roads will have to wait - life sucks.
Sure miss the dog.

We've been in our downsized house 11 1/2 months. It's 5 sq ft smaller than the old one.

That's got to be an energy savings for you, right? :innocent:

Hey, it's California. Our A/C doesn't cost near as much as heating oil does.

I grew up in a house in south Jersey that was built in 1850. We did the storm windows every fall. Dried our mittens and gloves on the radiators. I don't know what heating oil costs these days but I'm happy to have natural gas to keep us warm/cold. We set the thermostat to 80* summer, 66* winter, and wear sweaters.

I'm sure if we lived a few thousand feet higher our energy bills would reflect the climatic difference.

Congrats to the OP on his success. We're going on 2 years kid-free. We still are at N+2 for the pets. They help keep the nest from emptying entirely. There's nothing quite like the greeting you get from a dog after a long, hard day.

And until the real estate market changes, we'll be here for a while. We still love living here, thank goodness.

It would appear that this has become a universal story (the kids one) for much of our generation. They come and go as the requirements of "their" lives change. I may begin to look for a place to live that is specifically unattractive to the young....:twitchy:

How bout 51 with a 7 year old :eek: :rolleyes: I have a neighbor who is 58 with grand kids,married to a 27 year old woman, has an 18 month old daughter and talking about another one. Could be somethiing in the water. Lp

Lordy... it must be in the water. How about being nearly 58 and having both a 9 year old and an almost 11 year old.

I may be old, but I ain't dead. :innocent:

We are currently remodeling our 3000 sq ft money pit, which has sorely needed it.

Mrs. Mono and I are living in one corner of my study at night, and the coffepot is out on the deck. I kinda feel like I don't have a home.

You won't be sorry. I can't bake pie but I make an excellent prune bread.

The cost of the fuel oil was the final straw for me. My house was built in 1939 and still has the original windows and no insulation. I burned 1800 gallons of oil last winter and kept my thermostat at S-I-X-T-Y degrees. It wouldn't be cost effective for me to put the $$ into new windows when it is just me and my youngest son now.

That's my plan :) I'm moving 2,000 miles away which will make the "moving home" much less convenient for them. I've contemplated a studio apartment without any furniture other than a bed and dresser.

"Sorry, no you CAN"T move back in with me...no I don't even HAVE a sofa you can sleep on"

Well I do not know what it was like with kids, never had any, but we do have 4 dogs, But we bought some land out in the middle of no where and let the dogs run when they want and they usually go out for about 10 minutes and return because its too hot for them outside, Damn spoiled dogs that like air conditioning, Guess they are as bad as kids.