After decades of service my beloved husband is looking at retiring soon. This is a time to celebrate of course but also a time to be cautious and to plan ahead. We can only guess where he might find the job that will be his next career but we can plan what states and cities to aim for when it comes to him putting his resume out there.
Planning for life after the military as a family!
Like so many military families who have spent 20 years a drift in the world going where the country needed us to be, we have little roots. While once we planned to go “home” those plans have changed due to deaths and a house that is now out of reach. Family has scattered to the winds as well. We are adrift in the seas of possibility.
Where to look for “home” after military retirement.
Coming from a State in New England and having most close family having moved to Mississippi, we are torn. Do we head south? We have spent so much of the last 20 years in the south. This New England girl craves snowy winters and detests humidity…. not to mention the huge list of more valid reasons we don’t wish to live in the south.
But family.
I wonder if we have gotten so used to not having any around that now when it is possible to live close, that isn’t at the very top of the list as it once was. We have lived in so many places that we know what it is like to be in an area that doesn’t fit us, that isn’t great for us. Even with family, some places are just not suitable. Plus, what my husband does for a living isn’t much supported there. So where do we go?
Of course we look to studies to help us get some better ideas. We have 5 kids at home and 2 who will visit and who we do not want to be a continent away from. Colleges are a consideration as is a job market that is helpful to young people and not just professionals like my husband. I am lucky in that I can do what I do from about any place, though I truly want to be some place that inspires. After over 20 years, I get choices! It is exciting, and scary at the same time.
The latest study of best places to live with a family fell into my lap today. Some of the states we have been considering are on the best list! The places with family calling to us are on the worst list. Family is so important but maybe visits and the internet are enough? They have had to been these last 20 years. Still, even looking at this list, I am torn.
You can find more about the 49 metrics used to make this list by looking at the resources below the youtube video on that site. In addition to the normal things all civilians must consider when choosing a place to raise their family, we need to also consider the retirement military health care system and having access to it. We know that sadly our veterans have been suffering and dying in lone wait lines for health care through the VA. Our hope though is to not be dependent on that earned care and likely we will not be as tech jobs tend to have health care plans and husband is simply brilliant and hard working. I know it will work out. This data is being added to our own family list and we are starting to travel and see different cities and picture ourselves living in them. It is another adventure and thankfully, blissfully, we are together for this one.
