I hope you are all having a wonderful start to the summer season. In this episode, Babara updates us on what is going on in her world.

Barbara talks about her RV that has been in the shop being fixed for a month. She has upcoming guests and trips where she really does need her motorhome to be functional.

Her advice to the listener “if you plan to RV full-time or part-time is to be flexible”

Like Barbara’s husband says “it’s a bucket of bolts going down the road”

During their RV travels Barbara and her husband have had to learn the new National Parks online reservation system and are finding more and more places that don’t take cash.

The use of the internet is more prevalent than ever. Barbara talks about retirees in their 70s and 80s who have struggled with our more technological society and miss things the way they used to be.

Now more than ever, it is important to make sure you are at least familiar with the internet. If you or a loved one needs help, there are classes available and many are free. You can check your local senior center or there are some resources listed below.

The world is changing and even traveling is changing. Cash is used less and less. We currently have supply chain issues and labor shortages. Inflation is rising and costs are skyrocketing. And, we are still in a pandemic with Covid cases are rising again in some areas.  Having patience whether, you are in a restaurant, traveling, waiting for supplies to fix your house, or even waiting for your RV to be fixed is important.

When Barbara just married her husband, she wanted the 2 kids, the house, and the white picket fence. Her husband built her that white picket fence when they were newly married. When they came home from their 3-month RV trip Barbara felt like she had a “new set of eyes” and some yard work needed to be done. What started out as “sprucing things up” became a full yard remodel.

One of the first things Barbara wanted to be done was that white picket fence taken down. Her husband did not. In her eyes, the fence was old and getting dilapidated. Where her husband built that fence for his wife with his own 2 hands and there was a lot of love and emotion that went into that project.

Barbara did not let up and her husband ended up taking the fence down. As the fence was being taken down, Barbara started to remember what age the kids were when it was built and the things they had gone through as a family over the years. The white picket fence had many memories attached to it. It became a symbolic thing and here she was taking it down.

Barbara and Kathe also talk about communicating and compromising in relationships. Barbara’s husband would rather stay home and she likes to travel.  There has been a sort of tension around this in their relationship. When you retire, you may make a plan with your spouse for what your retirement will look like, but things may not feel the same for each person.

Barbara and her husband have been making sure they are trying to communicate, be willing to negotiate and bend at times, and above all, treat each other with kindness.  You aren’t the same person as you were when you first got married and the routine you were both used to pre-retirement is no longer. You have to be open to change.

One of the reasons this podcast was started was because retirement can have an unanticipated impact on relationships. Both Barbara and I know of couples who end up staying married for financial reasons but live separately and even couples who end up getting divorced. We previously had a guest on our show who had moved to Costa Rica with her husband.

She fell in love with it and he hated it there. They ended up getting a divorce. She chose Costa Rica over her marriage. If you haven’t listened to the episode, you can do there here HERE

Final Thoughts

To end the conversation Barbara talks about “Grandkids week.” It wasn’t a vacation they just did life with them, and it was an amazing experience. Before she retired, she wouldn’t have had the time to spend with her children and grandchildren as she is able to now.  Even though there have been some challenges she doesn’t regret retiring at all.

Do you have any questions or comments? Reach out to us at  Podcast@rockyourretirement.com and we will try to answer them in the show

Resources for Senior classes