Retiring Right Here
There Are Plenty Of Reasons To Stay In Connecticut
A teacher and longtime Willimantic resident found plenty of reasons to stay right in the state.
Although I retired in 2014 as a teacher and coach in Connecticut public schools, I continued to work pretty much full time until 2016, but in those two years I reflected often on where I'd retire and what that retirement would look like. I was not born in Connecticut. I moved here unbeknownst to me when I was a year old, in 1955, so I'm still kind of a newcomer to the Land of Steady Habits. Similarly, I wasn't born in Willimantic (or even Windham, its “parent”), and even though I've lived in the Thread City, home to the Frog Bridge, for a few decades, I'm still a newcomer there as well.
My first retirement idea was to buy a second house in
Saco, Maine. I thought I'd spend a week there every summer and rent it out the rest of the time. But then I realized I can't do anything with a tool. Last year, I even hired a young man to do all kinds of handiwork in my house. Taking care of a second house, when I can't do the work on the one I have, didn't make sense.
My thoughts drifted to getting a cabin cruiser like the one relatives had when I was a boy. I wanted something with a cabin big enough for sleeping. Boating in Willimantic, however, is limited and I knew I'd need to keep my boat on the Sound or in the Connecticut River. A friend of mine who knows about boats told me of the work involved in taking care of a boat before and after using it, and the need to find a place to store it in the winter. The luster of that idea began to fade. Besides, in the end, I'm not really a water guy.
Finally, I settled on getting a small recreational vehicle. It sleeps three on a double bed and couch, but I don't take many overnight trips. Mostly what I do is drive somewhere in Connecticut by myself or with friends to hike or go bicycling. We've been out to Litchfield and Burlington, which are good places to start our cycling tours. This last summer we launched a couple of times from the Chester/Hadlyme Ferry, got out our bikes and went on 50-mile rides through the rolling hills of the lower Connecticut River Valley. I also have taken the occasional overnight trip up to the White Mountains in New Hampshire for hiking or cycling.
This is my retirement, right here in my neighborhood in the Willimantic section of Windham, in Connecticut and in New England. Say what the naysayers will, my decision to retire right here at home is completely sane and satisfactory — even awesome.
It starts with my neighborhood, where I walk most days. That's how I met Arthur, a Korean War veteran who also walks daily, but unlike me he's dressed in khaki pants and a button-down shirt. He explained to me that his doctor had given him a choice — walk or die. Walking my 'hood is also how I became friendly with Mike down the street, who told me that anytime I need anything from his garden, to ask. “I provide for the whole neighborhood,” he said. We watch out for each other in this little town and neighborhood, which reminds me of the time Octavio, a friend who cooks at a local restaurant, told me “cuidado” (“careful”) when he was shoveling and I was out walking in a snowstorm.
Maybe I'm retiring here because, in my little city, I can go right and have shopping, restaurants and entertainment, or, if
I go left, I have quiet country roads and a full menu of cycling and hiking trails. Or maybe it’s because when I head out for a walk or a bike ride, I am beeped at and waved to by people I don’t even know. Very likely it has to do with the circle of support from so many people. Tina and Bert across the street, who helped me raise my sons after their mother died, Steve and Tracy up the street, who on a moment’s notice would help me repair some appliance or jump-start my car, and others who gave rides, watched out and cheered for the boys as they grew up. Now as an empty-nesting senior citizen, I feel this circle of support remains in place and will remain as I age even more.
This sense of place — really, sense of people — is why I am retiring in Connecticut. I know many people talk about the high taxes and the expensive cost of living, but for me those are not the determining factors. I have 169 towns in Connecticut to cycle through; I have a growler of beer, a minor league baseball game and each high point in every New England state to grab; and I have 48 4,000-footers in New Hampshire to scale. My town, our state and the rest of New England give me plenty of reasons to retire right here.