Hey Y’all!
Thank you for stopping by my brand-spanking new website. I feel like I’m wearing new clothes and need to show them off so I’m glad you came. Be sure to read the whole post so we can talk about our third life! Going forward, I plan to start most of my rambling from here, so I hope you’ll subscribe to get new stuff delivered right to your mailbox. You can find the *Subscribe to Kay’s Blog* box to the right of this page, or under the posts if you are reading this from your phone. But I’ll warn you right now, I’ve been accused of over-sharing, so we’ll let you be the judge of that.
Okay, not only do I have a new website, but we are getting ready to move into our new house! I’m leaving my life as a Carolina Girl and will now be a Georgia Peach. Our new property is located on the banks of Lake Hartwell and we are fairly sure (please don’t hold me to it) that this is our retirement home. This is the first house we’ve built together and it’s been so much fun picking everything from the initial plans all the way down to the cabinet pulls. Kind of scary, too. You never know if something that feels and looks right in your imagination is going to go over well in real life. However, so far I feel everything is coming together beautifully. With this house, I wanted clean and simple lines. Cozy. I hope in the end, it’s what we accomplish.
The other special thing about this house build is we’ve accepted that we’ve settled into our third life. Have you heard that term? It goes like this, your first life is all about discovery and exploring. You are full of energy and ready to take on the world. Eager to learn new things and try out different self’s to see who you are.
Your second life is when you focus on family and career, with life a roller coaster of setting up and getting through. You’ve little time to explore because you are too busy working, nesting, and/or raising kids.
Our third life is when we are supposed to take the wonder from the first life, and the wisdom we’ve gained from the second, to find more meaningful ways to spend your wandering years. Your focus is more on relationships than things. You have time to do things you’ve always dreamed of, if you can possibly make it happen.
Honestly, we aren’t yet old enough to retire but we feel like we are at the very end of our second life and prepping for our third. We are finally done paying for our children’s college, our nest is empty, and we’ve got more than a handful of grandkids.
Yes, it’s time for us to focus on what we want for the next stage, our third life. This home is in a lake community, where we’ll have our own boat slip and can return to our love of the water. It’s a financial downsize as well, so that we can have more of a travel budget to go back and forth to see our baby girl in Maui until I can talk her into coming home. I want to do more with my work for Yorkie’s of the Carolina’s rescue, and I have a folder of book ideas I want to explore. I also plan to give both our senior pups, Riley Radcliffe and Grandpa, all the affection they can handle for their golden years.
Yes, y’all, this is a bittersweet time. I realize that we are on the downside of life and I continually wonder have I done enough. Enough what? I don’t know. That’s the elusive question I am chasing. But I do know this…
I’ve been blessed with 25 years of love and joy with the man of my dreams. Together we’ve traveled the world, made a difference in the lives of many children, and built relationships from different cultures and places. We’ve led an exciting life, full of adventures. But now I crave quiet. Simplicity. Walks. Boat rides. Yoga. Dog kisses. Lots of reading and more writing, but at a more comfortable pace.
Most of all I crave peace. Yes, I suppose I’m ready for this third life. Or at least I think I am but I guess we’ll all see what I stumble into along the way.
What life stage are you in? And what do you envision for your third life? Have you already begun making plans or are you already there? I’d love for you to comment with what stage you are in and what you have planned for the next stage.
Oh, and before I forget, if you want to get news of events like books on sale, giveaways, etc, be sure to sign up for my newsletter – at the top of every page. The newsletter is different from the blog and sometimes my subscribers at the newsletter get to hear different things than my blog followers. Why? Because I just have so much to say!
I hope you’ll all tag along on this new adventure for us as we ease into our new home and try to focus on living our best life.
Later gators,
Signed,
Kay (author of multiple bestselling books-that-you-should-read, bookworm with-limited-concentration, devoted wife to a-gentle-giant-named-Ben, frazzled mom to two-adult-daughters-who-give-gray-hairs, nana-to-five-little-adorable-humans, pushover dog mom who-works-in-rescue, woman who-wishes-she-did-yoga-and-other-cool-things, over-thinker and over-sharer looking for therapy)
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