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| A view from our casa in Puriscal, Costa Rica |
Our decision to come to Costa Rica was both sudden and
well-planned. It was the result of a seed planted thirty years ago and a desire
to live a different life than the one we were living today—in this city and
culture and time.
We knew that our ability to retire and live a lifestyle in which
we wished to be accustomed would be severely limited by the
cost-of-living we found ourselves facing. The economy was good, and our incomes
were enough to sustain our standard of living through a foreseeable retirement period
only if we delayed the start for several years past my age of full
retirement.
And for Dallas to begin drawing her benefits, she would have to
wait years beyond when I would be able to step down. Without relocating to a place with a lower cost-of-living,
there was just no way we were going to have a life together in retirement for
twenty plus years without continuing to work into my late seventies. And
being able to do that is something of which none of us are assured—even if we wanted to.
We have good health, but what lies around the next medical corner no one
knows. I had suffered a stroke three years ago and though I had a complete
recovery I know the chances of another stroke within ten years is much higher
because of the first.
When faced with our own mortality whoever hoped and dreamed
for more time to spend in the office, making sales calls, counseling
parishioners, attending meetings, or whatever the details of the job entail—knowing
that all the activities that go into a successful career are things that lead
to stress and medical problems.
I want time for myself—and to be with my wife away from the hurry up life
we were living. I want to leave the anxiety of future medical conditions
behind and live a contented life for as long as possible.
With these considerations we looked for places where our
funds could be stretched, where reasonable medical options were available,
where we could communicate well enough with the locals, where the climate was good,
a place within easy reach, and a place that shared a time zone with the states.
We think that place is Costa Rica.
