The Journey Begins!

After 35 years of marriage, 3 kids (and spouses), 8 grandkids and over almost 50 years collectively in the workforce, we have started to explore the next journey in our lives…Retirement.

What does retirement mean to you? Everyone has different views of what their life will be like after they retire. Do you plan for your days to be filled with no activity at all or lots of activities of your choosing? What types of activities are you planning in your retirement? Volunteering, traveling, gardening, cooking, or possibly finding another job.

Our decision was influenced by many different things. When our son moved to a small country town, we found ourselves enjoying the time we spent with him and his wife. The lifestyle was so much calmer than Houston and the days and nights filled with the sights and sounds of nature…not traffic and bright lights.

At first this idea was fun and exciting and seemed like a distant dream. My husband’s dream that is. While I liked the idea of a country home, I wasn’t sure about the complete change of lifestyle. This change would mean moving from one daughter and her family (hubby + 4 kids) and the many friends that we had known for almost 30 years. Even once we began looking at land and country homes, I wasn’t sold. It seems like I could find something wrong with each place.

Over the next year, things started to change. The idea of starting the next journey of our lives became more exciting. We always said that when we became empty nesters that we started our second honeymoon. Looking at retirement and starting down this new road seemed that it was a chance for a third honeymoon. As we looked at each property, I tried to envision us living there – the two of us. I also tried to envision our children, grandchildren and family coming to visit us – and all of the cows, horses, chickens and other animals and plants we wanted to have.

Here it is almost two years later and it has happened. We found a property that was just what we were looking for. It was a little different from the ones we looked at to begin with. This property doesn’t have a home on it but it does have lots more acreage. This will allow to have more cows. We are planning on starting a retirement business with our son and his wife – running cattle. We’ll start with a small operation and hopefully it will grow to the size that we choose.

The purpose of this website is to journal our journey down this new road – our country road. It will also give us a chance to share this journey with our friends and family. There are so many decisions ahead of us about a house, barns, animals, equipment, etc.

Come along and join us as we travel down The Wheeler’s Country Road.