The Grass IS Greener...(Some philosophical musings...)

Seriously...look at this!

You know the old saying: "The grass is always greener on the other side."  And, of course, it warns us away from assuming "the other side" has it better or life is perfect "over there". And yet don't we in the West live our lives exactly by that credo?  I will learn hard to get into a good college where I will study hard to land a good job from which I will hopefully not be fired for about 30-35 years so that I can save hard for a well deserved retirement.  Cue reality.  The debt you incurred in college plagued your ability to get ahead of the curve before you had children whose rearing was a cost you didn't really calculate and so on and so forth.  I'm probably preaching to the choir here.  Does everything that matters happen after retirement?

It really is greener and bluer and brighter...

My mom is a baby boomer and is currently enjoying retirement according to that same ole plan. My husband and I are just not following her same plan. Our path involves semi-retiring early and buying a home on a Caribbean island where we can live on one fourth the income at a slower pace with beautiful surroundings and time to connect with one another and truly be present in our lives, not always looking ahead to a someday in the distant future.

(Complete tangent:  One of my favorite movies is Room With A View. If you know the movie you might remember a seemingly inconsequential scene when Mr. Emerson exclaims while poking his chest with a fork. "Here is where the birds sing! Here is where the sky is blue!"  And then later in the movie admits that he would like to move to the country side because "he needs a little help from the Creator". I carry that scene around in my subconscious.  I should create my blue sky and green grass inside myself regardless of my location.  Trust me, living in metro Detroit during most of the year tests this mantra.  I utterly failed.  I need PALM TREES, tropical plants and flowers. Oh my!)

What a mood boost living on a tropical island produces. My blood pressure drops easily 10 points as soon as I'm there. We eat better.  We sleep better.  Days start with coffee on the pool deck watching the sun rise. Various projects get interrupted by dips in the pool. Life as it should be!

But, we're still products of our cultural upbringings.  My German husband can always find something to complain about and so can I. The service is slow or non-existent.  Everyone says yes, but that doesn't mean you should expect anything will actually get done or happen.  When people say "island time" they mean "no worries, be happy"  So, do your best and then just go find a nice bar with a sunset view and drink a rum punch or passion fruit and XV rum if you're my husband.

I used to think the forests and dunes of Lake Michigan where so beautiful in summer.  Dark forest green, miles of sandy beach and the deep blue of the Great Lakes. But, in comparison with the tropical islands of the Caribbean, it all seems muted somehow.  The colors are brighter in the Caribbean.  The sky is bluer. The flowers more colorful.  The grass is definitely greener. Nice job, Creator!