Realizing the Dream

I would not have thought, at any point during my adult life, that I would be planning my retirement to a tropical island.  And yet, here I am!

As a young girl I breathed the salt air, felt the warm sand tickling my toes as I ran into the foamy swells which lapped the eastern seaboard of Massachusetts.  I believed then that the dream of island living was possible.  And then life happened.

Fast forward to marriage at a very young age, children, creating a nest for the family, the usual...and unusual...ups and downs we all face in our lives.  And now, here I sit, divorced, alone (but never lonely...I only felt loneliness during my marriage), working at a job both rewarding and nonsustaining, and anticipating an end-chapter of struggle, uncertainty and weariness of both body and spirit.

Serendipity arrived on the Welcome mat outside the door of my apartment in the form of the Sunday Wisconsin State Journal.  There in the travel section of the paper was an article on Utila, a 25-square-mile island off the coast of Honduras in South America.  As I read about this jewel of the Caribbean, I became that young girl once again, who dreamed of someday living on an island.  And so began my awakening.

In the days that followed, I found myself re-reading that newspaper article many times over.  I visited the official Utila Website, http://www.aboututila.com/, and literally engulfed myself in Utila lore.  I read Utila blogs, checked out books on Utila from the library, emailed the Webmaster of the Utila Website with questions about life on Utila.

I discovered that there are many retirees who live in South American countries because you can live very well there on very little.  And suddenly the realization came to me...that I could live on Utila...I could have my island dream!  I could actually afford to retire, if I did so on Utila, whereas I would have to work until the day my lifeless body is taken away if I stay in the United States.

I made no reckless decisions.  Instead, I conducted a very thorough investigation of my finances, made countless lists of pros and cons, talked at great length with my children, friends and coworkers.  Once I knew the amount I could collect from Social Security, the sum of my retirement, when my Roth IRA would come due, I knew the move was doable.  I looked into passport requirements, plane fares, chose a time frame and voila!  On Aug. 21 I will be 65 years old and I will retire.  I will unburden myself of all material possessions, pack a suitcase filled with shorts, tank tops and sunscreen, and fly off to my island in the sun.  Suddenly that end-chapter looks much more promising.

I'll continue to post the steps I take which will get me to Utila.  Perhaps it will benefit some of you who may have unfulfilled dreams of your own.  And while I'm living my dream, I'll also keep you posted on my new life and the adventures I encounter on Utila.