Catching up on life
I recently realized that it had been about two months since my last post here. While I’ve been OK with the idea of non-scheduled / sporadic writing for quite some time now, I also recognize it’s all too easy to ignore it entirely. Out of sight, out of mind, indeed… But I’ve had a few encounters recently, both online and in person, that have demonstrated to me that there are multiple personal benefits that come from writing, as well as from interacting with others who find value in what I write. And so I thought I’d take a few minutes to share a few recent experiences.
Road trip!
Just yesterday, Lorri and I just returned from a 3-night anniversary trip to a great and somewhat under the radar California State Park just a few hours drive away from our home: Red Rock Canyon. In one respect it was our most recent test of what empty nester life may be like, as our soon-to-be adult / now-teen had work and school obligations and didn’t join us. But it was also a trial run of one of our (many!) ideas for retired life, that being doing trips out of an RV. From both perspectives I think we’d each grade our experience as a success!
While we missed having our son with us, he seemingly did great and I think we both did too. Things certainly will be different in so many ways a year from now when he’s underway with his first semester of college! Having more experience living with that idea is only going to help us, right? The trip itself was also great. Both Lorri and I enjoyed “dry camping” (i.e. no power/water hookups) at the state park. Barring one night it was super quiet, the hiking was great, we kept warm despite the cold and windy nights, and this kind of RV experience was pretty appealing. It’s unclear what the future holds for this kind of travel, but we’re definitely still interested in the idea.
It’s OK to kill dreams, even those long-held
I’ve long held the idea (bordering on obsession at times) that getting my private pilot certification would be super fun. I’m definitely an aviation nerd, I’m passionate about learning new skills, and love to travel. But barring a discovery flight lesson I received as a gift more than ten years ago, I’d never tested these waters. Since retiring more than three years ago, my voracious YouTube appetite has increasingly included a lot of aviation content. In recent months this escalated to the point where I thought I really needed to test out this idea of taking lessons.
I booked a discovery flight lesson with a local instructor about a month ago. It was a great experience - the instructor was knowledgeable, thorough, and friendly. I had lots of instruction on the ground and time in the left seat to get a sense of what it might be like to earn my certificate. And it was 90% great! But that means it was 10% not great. I found I really didn’t enjoy flying at low altitude. My anxiety kicked in pretty strongly when we were yawing in thermals, the normal bounces + bumps during takeoff and landing really bothered my sense of balance, and as a result that 10% was pretty concerning.
But I knew enough not to simply rule it out based on one experience. So I booked a 2nd lesson just a few days later. In the worst case, I’d just drain my “fun money” earned from the tasting room gig a bit more (lessons are pricy), drop the idea, and I’d be otherwise none the worse for it. But in the best case, I’d get over my jitters and keep the dream alive. TL;DR- it was the former. I had essentially the same ratio of fun/anxiety as the first flight. So I didn’t give it much more thought. I still love travel by air, but flying a small plane is not in the cards for me. And I’m OK with it!
What else?
Well, to be honest I’ve got lots on my mind as always. I had half of another whole section written and later decided to delete. Of late, most of what’s occupying my grey matter concerns my continuing post-retirement journey of self-discovery and personal improvement. To that end, I’m excited about some Two Sides of FI content coming soon that will provide a great opportunity for me to write about things of importance to me. I look forward to sharing that with you soon! For now I’ll just leave it there as a tease :)
I hope you’re all doing well. Thanks as always for being with me on the journey! I sincerely appreciate each of you. Mahalo 🙏
Very cool, Jason! I can identify with several things here.
I had three friends who post high school ventured into flying. One ended up purchasing his own plane and going full in. Another would fly (via renting) pretty regularly post college, but that decreased over time as life got busy, etc. The last abruptly ended his journey through lessons after accidentally slowly flipping a plane (tail over nose) during landing practices. No one was hurt and I don’t remember the damage cost, but he never overcame the anxiety from that event to try any additional lessons. My reaction to the flying experience was similar to yours. While going up in a small plane at the end of high school as a passenger just to see what it was like, I had the experience of mild anxiety and sweating (both unexpected) towards the end of the flight. I think it was the roughness of the ride, as you described, that did me in. Definitely glad I tried it as the views were amazing, but I immediately knew it was not for me long-term.
As far as the RV journey, glad to hear your experience was positive! My wife and I definitely want to try some variation of this. We have friends who have a fifth wheel and love it, but don’t use it very often. The idea of renting sounds fantastic for us (all the benefits minus overhead & depreciation cost, maintenance effort and cost, etc), and I would say this is cemented in as something we will try.
I would say the thing that tugged on my heartstrings the most is the discussion about a child transitioning out of high school. Our two kids are currently a senior and sophomore in college. Boy, is there a volume of things to discuss there. At times you’re very happy for them, but also a little nervous. You’re glad they’re getting older and more independent, but you’re also a bit sad that they’re getting older (surprise - it also means you’re getting older). I will say this, as you and Eric talked about in one particular episode, the amount of time we will spend with our kids post high school is very very small in the big picture, so my wife & I are absolutely soaking it in and very present when we are with them - really enjoying every opportunity.
Appreciate all you (and Eric) share through your journey!
One final suggestion for you and Eric. After releasing your most recent episode of 2 sides of fi where Eric is now considering indefinitely postponing retirement based on his new business development and excitement, it might be interesting for you both to revisit the episode where I posed on Speak pipe the question about one more year. Based on Eric’s newly developed/discovered information, how would he answer that question now? Do his thoughts and answers from that episode hold up now? Just a thought experiment…
Enjoy the final year of high school! Best wishes.
Hi Jason, I appreciate your blog and 2 sides of FI. Good for you for testing out your dream of flying. That’s awesome. The readiness, the trying, is all.