Retired in East TN

I am 73 years of age and except for battling two different kinds of cancer at the same time and having heart disease and hypothyroidism and I in excellent health...  In fact, I was in perfect health and had never gotten sick, not even a cold or the flu until I was 60 years of age.  I am a little over weight but am gradually losing weight by eating less...  not by exercising...  I am also counting my daily intake of calories, making sure that my smaller portions are actually healthy.  I don't drink alcohol, don't smoke cigarettes, don't smoke marijuana, don't eat red meat, fried foods, sugars, or dine at any fast food restaurants.

However, I enjoy eating and do frequent restaurants about once or twice a week, making sure that I bring home half my food to eat the next day.  

I eat a lot of vegetables, beans, rice, onions, mushrooms, , garlic, bell peppers (especially green ones), fish (Salmon, Cod, Tuna), and light meat like chicken and turkey.  I also eat non-fat yogurt, oatmeal and eggs.

Because of my two cancers, I stay out of the sunlight whenever possible but when I do find myself out in the sunlight I wear UV clothing that blocks out the harmful rays of the sun, and put on the highest strength sun lotion I can find.  My wife and I spend all of our 6 vacations either at Myrtle Beach, SC or in Florida along the Gulf Coast.

At 73, I still work out in the yard several times a week, especially when the weather is nice...  for instance, today I spent about 2 hours digging up bushes that we wanted to throw away, so we could turn a flower bed into a grassy area so that we would not have to spend so much time weeding.  Yesterday, after moving the lawn (takes about an hour), I spent another hour weed eating our acre lot.

UNCROWDED...  This is why I prefer to live down south and in the East TN area...  yes, we live in a community and yes we have neighbors but our neighbors are not so close that we can reach out our  windows and touch the house next to us.

East TN is not an URBAN area...  it is country...  lots of land and trees everywhere you look.  And, TVA back in the 1930's built all sorts of lakes in this area to keep people working during the Depression.

I hear birds singing instead of police sirens...

I sleep until 8:00 or 9:00 in the morning.  Get dressed whenever I want or simply wear sweats all day long.  I surf on the computer and write articles for my blogs...  and go for a walk around the community, anytime I want.  I eat when I want and leave the house when I want.  And, when I have a doctor's appointment, I leave 15 minutes early so I don't have to break the speed limit in order to get there on time.

I worked for 45 years and now I don't work at all other than teach a college night class now and again.  My income is sufficient to keep the same lifestyle I had when I was working...   am I lucky?  No, not really...  I just planned for my retirement, and executed than plan.

I can live like this for a long time.