From time to time, you’ll hear a different voice here at Thriving Into Retirement.
This post is written by my wife, Kristin–hence the series name, “Kristin’s Corner“. She recently retired after a long career in education (not to mention raising our three children) and brings a perspective that’s both grounded and honest—especially when it comes to balancing expectations, family, identity, and what retirement actually feels like from the inside.
While I tend to think in frameworks and possibilities, Kristin lives in the day-to-day reality of transitions, relationships, and place. Her perspective has challenged—and improved—many of my own ideas about retirement. I’m grateful she’s willing to share it here. Over time, I look forward to including more posts that she has created.
Hello. My name is Kristin. I’m Dave’s wife—the woman behind the man behind the blog Thriving into Retirement. Dave and I talk often about his blog—ideas, perspectives, and the evolving concept of retirement. He encouraged me to contribute my own thoughts on retirement as his partner and as someone who has recently retired myself.
I’m not the writer he is, but I’ll do my best to share honestly and thoughtfully. I hope you’ll extend me a little grace as we spend this time together.
We just celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary, after dating for four years before that. I was 21 when we met, and Dave was 25. So yes—we’ve been together far longer than we’ve been apart. You might assume that after all these years, we’d share identical views on retirement. But just like parenting our three children, we’ve discovered that while we align on many things, we each bring our own expectations and perspectives to the table.
One of those moments of divergence came during the COVID years, when Dave thought it would be a great idea to buy a home in Costa Rica and move there so we could retire sooner. At the time, I was already feeling isolated from our children and extended family, and the idea of moving out of the country—especially not knowing whether we could come and go freely—was not something I could embrace. I love to travel, but I also love being an American and having my home here in the good old U.S. of A.
Let’s just say we had a few discussions about that idea.
But that experience got me thinking. One of Dave’s concerns was that Colorado, as beautiful as it is, was no longer the Colorado we moved to in 1993. It had become more crowded and increasingly expensive. Just when we thought we were making progress on paying down our mortgage, our homeowners’ insurance, property taxes, car insurance, and utilities all continued to rise—especially in a large home that had once been perfect for raising our family and caring for my dad.
So, the conversation about selling the home we lived in for 23 years, leaving the state we loved for 30 years, and moving across the country (but still in the U.S.!) began to take hold. There were many factors involved in that decision, along with a lot of big feelings—both good and bad. I’ll share more about that journey in future posts.
Fast forward two and a half years, and here I am in Florida, sitting on our lanai in the middle of October, wearing shorts and a t-shirt, listening to the birds and feeling a beautiful breeze on my face. Why I’m able to do this on a Thursday morning, as a teacher, is a story for another day.
I’m looking forward to sharing the ups and downs of working our way into retirement with you. Thank you for tuning in. I’m so glad you are here.
