Gaining Perspective Takes Time
By Victor Westgate

As I looked across the table at our house closing with the new buyers, I felt happy for them and a bit sad for me. I think they will be stewards of the land we are leaving but I also will miss the home and the dream we built over the last 12 years. I am sure some of you feel the same way: happy to start a new chapter but feeling a bit of regret over what you are leaving behind. Others tell me this too shall pass and to be honest already the feelings are starting to fall into place with a bit of perspective as well as excitement.

My wife Lisa and our Duck Toller Daisy will begin a two-month trip across America in the next few weeks with no worries about whether I left the lights on or the refrigerator door ajar. We plan to map out the Lewis and Clark Expedition over the next few days and follow its trail in our modern day Conestogawagon, a Roadtrek Agile, Class B camper, to be precise. However, this trip will be one of both adventures and information gathering.

We have not been asked by President Jefferson to bring home plant samples or information on new animal species, but rather have decided to study the new house designs under development in other parts of the country--sometimes referred to as pocket communities. If you read our first book, Pack Lightly: Making Sense of the Second Half of Your Life, you’ll remember chapter one is about sense of place and our second book will focus on this aspect for our ourselves and others.

Our trip will not result in doubling the size of the United States but it will hopefully allow us to learn more about the large number of housing options in the years ahead. As I write down these words and consider our goals, I think I am gaining a bit of perspective on leaving something behind and that it is not necessarily a loss at all but rather an opportunity to refocus a dream still in development. I hope you find our plans inviting and that you will join us in the reading of our travel log, which is yet to be written.

Victor Westgate, a high school educator of 34 years, along with his wife Dr. Lisa Cowley, a holistic chiropractor and nutritional counselor of 25 years, are authors of Pack Lightly: Making Sense of the Second Half of Your Life. You can learn more at: www.joyinaging.com 




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