I forgot something....

On my drive home tonight from soccer on the other side of the world (city), i thought about reason #6 for wanting to move. The rat race. It drives me nuts to know that "our world" revolves around working your ass off, with long hours, at a less-than-satisfying job for years and years, before you finally retire, at which time you're too old to have fun the way you would have at a younger age. Why are people waiting so long to enjoy their lives? Not to mention, the horrendously long commutes that people (including myself) are tolerating, spending up to several hours in their cars in one day going from place to place, or driving their kids from activity to activity. For what? Kids can't entertain themselves anymore, they have to have their lives scheduled, people are getting fatter and fatter as they spend more time in the car, more time on the couch (its too cold), and they're getting stuck in a rut of making money, spending money, and complaining about needing more money to buy more shit that they don't need. And, parents are working such long hours that they don't have time to raise their own kids, they are learning the same bad habits, falling into the wrong crowd for attention and acceptance. I could go on and on, but the bottom line is we've been lucky enough so far, at such a young age to have those things that people desire, a house, a couple of new cars, and decent jobs (that we enjoy for the most part), and its not to say that we're not grateful for those things, but I'd like to think its because we don't feel they are the most important things in life.
And, on a side note, reason #7 Proximity: Josh wants his chocolate bar, he can walk to the store to get it, instead of getting in the car and driving for 10 minutes to the nearest corner store. We want to be close to the things we need, so that having one car, or no car will suffice for the most part. I want the ability to buy groceries, eat at a restaurant, go to the gym, walk on the beach, take the dog out, get what I need all within walking or biking distance from our house, and that is something we don't have here, and I don't think either of us have had in our lives. I think this want stems from visiting friends in Spain this fall, where they had all of the above, and loved it. They went out on weeknights, what a concept! Because we live so far away from "the city" (we're in it, just out in the boonies) we tend not to do things socially as we probably could be if we were closer. Our friends are much closer in town, go to clubs and restaurants, yoga class, etc with just a quick hop in the car or just a walk around the corner. It's pretty amazing for us to imagine that! Driving more than 30 minutes to work everyday, and at least 15 minutes for everything else is getting pretty old. Poor Nixon will miss his car rides, oh well.. Sacrifices.