As I was contemplating subject matter for this week’s post, nothing inspired me. Absolutely nothing.
So, here it is, Tuesday morning, 7:38 am, and though I mostly wrote a post yesterday on minimalism, it was (as I mentioned) completely uninspiring. It had no purpose and would be an effort of which I couldn’t possibly be proud.
Laying in bed this morning I thought I might take a bit of that post and narrow it down to whether or not any of us would like to live in a tiny house. Tiny houses are interesting and trendy. They make good internet fodder, and this blog is, of course, on the internet. But no, that too didn’t float my boat enough for me to get up and pound out a blog post I felt good about serving up to my faithful readers.
Good thing I work well under deadline. Because this is as close as I’ve ever cut it since starting 68andcounting.com. My friend Michele (designsbymichelerose.com) would be horrified!
During the thought process this morning laying in bed thinking about tiny houses and whether or not they’d make an interesting post, I wondered whether, if not out of necessity, people would actually choose to live in tiny houses. And then, if money were no object, how would people choose to live.
That reminded me of the post I’ve seen so often on Facebook of four homes. It asks whether you’d choose to live in a farm house, a lake house, a beach house or in a mountain home.
For me that’s a no brainer. Beach house, hands down. My friend Craig (one of my most faithful readers), who, along with his lovely wife Annette and their tiny, adorable Yorkie Maggie, live full-time in a 5th wheel RV in a Texas park designed for folks like them, says his choice would be a mountain cabin. My brother Denny and his wife are currently pondering where and how they’d like to live in the next chapter of their lives. For their entire marriage they’ve owned and are superb caretakers of a gorgeous 6 acre property in a semi-rural Wisconsin location. Now, as they are retired and travel a lot, the property is a lot of work and they are thinking about alternatives.
Unlike choosing from 4 homes in a photo, these are not easy, cut and dried decisions. The choice about how or where to live doesn’t always have just to do with money.
Here in Florida, we drive roads along the coast line and see some truly breathtaking homes right on the beach. Though I want to live at the beach, even if I won a spectacular lottery jackpot tomorrow, there’s no way I’d want to live in a huge, sprawling beach house. Heck, my friend Michele took me to a place in Sarasota called St Armand’s Circle, billed as a hub of elegant shopping and dining, on Lido Key. It was easy to see that this was a place favored by people to whom money was no object. We waited an hour and a half for a table at a restaurant. I felt like a fish out of water.
On the other hand, our friends Keith and Carla took us to the Amvets post in Northport one night recently to see some musician friends of theirs who were playing. The place was packed to the rafters with pony-tailed men and robust women drinking beer and margaritas and who didn’t seem to care how they looked laughing and dancing and eating cheesy nachos with their bare hands. I look around with a huge smile on my face and think, “these are my peeps.”
It’s nice to have enough money to not have to think about or worry about money. But it’s true that money can’t buy happiness. At least I suppose it’s true, because frankly, I’ve never had enough of it to try to buy happiness.
If money were no object, Randy and I would move to another house in the area, not necessarily on the beach, but around here somewhere. It would be a new home, yet unravaged by the Florida elements, and a little bigger to accommodate two great guest suites and more room in the garage for Randy. We’d have two vehicles, one a truck so Randy could bring home as many sheets of plywood as he needs for his projects. I’d spend the money to hire a housekeeper again because I still hate to clean. I’d fly back to Wisconsin to see my mother more often, or even move her down here if she’d come.
Other than that, I’m not sure my life would change a whole lot. My favorite restaurant would still be Buffet City, and I’d still borrow books from the library.
What about you? How would your life change if money were no object? If you won the lottery next week (you can’t win if you don’t play…😉) how would you live? Don’t tell me how you’d give money to people and charity….tell me how you would live that’s different from how you’d live now. Inquiring minds want to know.
P.S. Tiny houses? Appealing on a social justice, intellectual level. Completely impractical for someone like me who needs a puzzle table in her life.
P.P.S. Whew….9:05 am. Not a bad effort for working under a very, very, very tight deadline!
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