Still a ways to go...

Welcome to the forums. Glad it has been useful to you already!   Your story is not the usual one we hear!

Wishing you all the best of luck, Keep us posted along the way!

Thank you, I will! 

Micky, a great start. You & everyone else must realize that only a mother duck & her ducklings are the only ducks in a row. But then they  grow up & are no longer in a row. Life brings growth & new challenges & new adventures with each other.  Sometimes waiting til it is all in a row takes the edge of excitement off of it all.  You two are very fortunate to have found each other, so why postpone for a long time the chance at a new way of life.  My friend Milan use to say that people wait too long to afford to   travel, by the time they feel they have enough, they end up just traveling to their various doctors.  Join hands with him & take that jump into your future. A couple of errant ducks won't diminish the joy, just maybe make a compromise here & there a necessity. so what? You will be together! Your desire to return to a simpler way of life awaits you here.  Jump in, the water is fine.

Well say tinker.

Tinker, the philosopher...could not have put it better myself! Mickie, there is no time like the present. Life has a tendency to pass us before our very eyes and if we are not careful, we end up in our final days regretting what we should have, would have and could have done.  I get it...everyone's situations are different and I am not here to impose my beliefs or views on anyone.  Just consider the possibility of stepping into a brand new life with your significant other sooner rather than later. Worst case scenario...you don't like what you signed up for and you follow your river of life wherever it takes you. Best case, you and your significant other find the dreams which both of you have been dreaming for a long time now. In both instances, there are opportunities to learn, experience, and be adventurous. Best of luck to you both! Hope to see you un the near future. I will be arriving this Saturday to start the next chapter of my own life.

Jd

True true.......

Do what works for you!

Totally agree. Don't leave it too late and follow your heart. What's the worst that can happen, you end up starting all over again. But better to have loved and lost than not to have loved at all..........

Even if I wanted to leave today, he is insisting that I go with his family to visit the island first to make sure I really want to live there. Personally I think it's really sweet that he's looking out for me. And... maybe there's a little self-protection in that he would be very sad if we got there and then I left him because I couldn't handle it. A visit is planned for next spring or early summer. So that gives me about a year to get my condo ready to sell and then we can be as impulsive as we want

Good for you.  It is a good plan.  Imagine moving somewhere and hating it!  This is paradise for many but not for all honey.

Check it out first.

I've been here 15 years almost and I love 95% of my life here.....LOL

That's good advice.......

Your man cares or you,concerned for you, perhaps not convinced that you would be satisfied with a simpler life. Work hard to convince him. A year is a very long time before the visit. I too, once had a love like yours. The North Ridge  quake killed her & her 5 year old daughter a week before their return home.  Grab that golden ring,.....we never know what may be in store for us.    Not being negative, .......  just saying........

OMG, Tinker.... what a heartbreaking tragedy!!! I am so sorry for your loss    I see now why you feel the way you do. It is very true that life is short and we never know how much time we really have.

Bless...
Michele

Money is also an issue.... even though I have a good job and own a car and a home, I am like most Americans, still only one paycheck away from disaster with no savings at the moment. It will take some time....... I don't want to be caught with my pants down!