Childfree and moving...

                                                    

I'm in the middle of a transformation that I sincerely believe would NOT be possible if I had kids. My husband and I are literally weeks away from moving from New Jersey to California. We've been talking for some time about our desire to live nearer to the ocean and we are making that happen. 

I flew out to California at the end of May. I had a week to look at apartments, see if I could find one within our budget, and sign a lease. The day before I was due to fly back to Jersey, I found one. Since then I have given notice at my job, gotten movers and have been going crazy throwing stuff away, donating items, and filling box after box after box.... Chaos and excitement all day, every day!

If we had children, there is no way this would be possible in this time frame. There would be no way I would be able to take a chance of moving without having employment secured. There would have been no way to leave my parents, and even without kids, that was what had kept us here in Jersey. Since the passing of my mom in 2012 and my dad in 2013, we've been making many hard choices. Our dreams were put on hold until we settled the last of the family estate business....sold their house...closed all accounts. When we finally came up for air, we revisited that dream of ours. We wanted a place closer to the ocean...sunshine most of the year....NO SNOW! Without the anchor of my parents to hold us securely in place...we suddenly had options. We looked at each other and finally discovered that the time to make it happen, was NOW...

Is it easy? Not really...but tell me when moving is a piece of cake for anyone? We have a little money in the bank and a destination. The rest is up to us. As a middle-aged couple, we have STUFF...and we've been downsizing anyway. So now, we are pushed to get rid of more, take less, and do this in a shorter period of time then if we were staying put. But we're not staying put, we're moving out to the West Coast...Southern California...and we'll be in a little apartment 10 minutes from the beach. It is a dream come true...and we are making it happen because we aren't tied down with kids!

So many folks have said they envy us. I tell folks they can do this, too...though I am well aware that most of this has been made possible by the fact that we are a Childfree couple who have fewer anchors holding us in place. We are moving simply because we WANTED to move. We have two cats that will be making the cross-country drive with us and we do hope they handle the drive well, but we'll see... I've gotten the side eye and heard the snark from the envious who say they wish us well, but secretly only wish it was them and not us. But it is us making the move....and because we are a Childfree couple, this is able to happen this way for us....and we regret none of it. We are entering a whole new chapter of our lives....this is so exciting!

What are you waiting for? Are you truly making the most of your Childfree life? Whatever the reason for not having children, you have opportunities available to you that many others feel they don't. What freedoms do you enjoy as a Childfree person? Do you have special hobbies and interests that you wouldn't be able to enjoy if you had kids? Can you/do you travel? What kind of life do you want to have? Do you make the most of your life, or are you still trying to figure out what you want to do?

This is no dress rehearsal....life is now...and if you are Childfree, you can make choices on how you live with only your own best interests at heart. Do what makes you happy. Do it now...do it today. Make your goals and work them. Make your Childfree life the best it can possibly be. Take it from a middle-aged, Childfree woman.....start TODAY....