Have you put your dreams on hold?

We went for it. We always wanted to move back to Wales and live by the sea. And now we do. Admittedly we are near DD now, but we had to leave DS, DiL and our 2 DGDs behind. But they all love to visit and it is very special when they do.

I followed my dream at age 20years when I fulfilled my dream of becoming an air stewardess.
My head mistress wanted me to try radiography ( a relatively new career in the fifties), but I refused.
My heart longed to fly and discover new worlds....so I did.
Found my lovely DH too so my dream paid off big time.

Yes, when DH retired he had always wanted to live near the sea, so we did.It was lovely, a hamlet in Devon.Great house, and location, lovely friendly neighbours.
However, I did miss the DC and by then we had a DGS too.
We lived there for just a few years and then came back, we had been to-ing and fro-ing up and down motorways and it was getting a bit much, also many of our family have health problems ( getting worse) and it was the best thing we did ( coming back.) Settled in a very nice house in a pleasant location now, with more amenities and clubs to join, better bus routes etc.
See the DC and DGC regularly, we help them, and as time goes in, they can help us.
Nobody should leave that final move until too late.

I dream of living by the sea but it is so expensive....I live in a pretty detached bungalow in the country ..not overlooked on any side ....it is very peaceful....my children are away so at most we will see them twice a year ....it does not really matter which location we use but I am very drawn to the sea....it is an hours drive away and we try to go at least once a week...if I could just transport this house near a coastline my dream could come true....the other side of me feels I should be very thankful for what I have......retirement is looming so need to decide soon.

Home is where the heart is and ours is very definitely with the family nearby. We are lucky that all our children and grandchildren live within a radius of five miles and I couldn't care where I lived geographically.I don't think I have really had any dreams ( how boring is that).Just content to jog along.

Yes, Bbnan. I am very thankful for what we have. It's important to keep a perspective.

However, I have reached an age where practicalities have to be considered and now I am wishing I'd weighed up the practicalities of living in a small town on the coast instead of a landlocked one in the north!

However, like Roses mentioned, going back and forth, making long journeys to be back with family, is also a consideration.

Dreams change, though. I lived by the sea for much of my early life and would have loved to go back. But that would mean being away from the family now and if I was, my dream would be to be close to them! None of my dreams feature long journeys up and down a motorway just to hold my grandchildren.

I'm lucky though. My sister still lives on the coast and we can visit as often as we like. It's still best when the DGC come with us!

We wanted to move back to the Isle of Wight when we were in our late fifties and it would have been perfectly do-able but my mother was very elderly and frail so we put it all on hold.

She lived for another ten years and by then we felt it was too late. DH is 73 now and not in the best of health.

Some things are just not meant to be.

I gave up on dreams forty years ago, just want my children and grandchildren to be healthy and happy but no dreams

That's sad Anniebach I am a complete pessimist (miserable cow actually) but still have dreams (impossible as they may seem) .

Gilly, I am not a pessimist, just there was never time to have dreams ,unless you count Alan Rickman sitting on my bed reading poetry to me and that one has gone

I have always wanted to live by the sea and was brought up not too far away from the seafront no where as near close as we are now though.
When the children where still at school I always wanted to move abroad but we never managed it until the children left school and started work we then moved away for 10yrs and again was right by the Mediterainian beautiful to say the least,back now for 9yrs we can say we achieved our dreams and got the tea-shirt we can now sit back relax and say "we did that" and not just sit back and say "if only " I am so content with my life now and don't have a bucket list to fulfill just a happy family life and lovely hubby.

I'm an incurable dreamer and once the seeds are sown in my head I have to go off and fulfil that dream. Nothing gets in the way because I've been lucky so far and every little negative has been surmountable. (Maybe lucky isn't the right word, there has been hard work and risk taking involved too.)
I dream of retiring to the sea and will probably do so in 5 or 6 years. The worry is we will be leaving DS and GCs in London. Sadly it would be impossible to return if we were unhappy after a few years due to the ever rising property prices in the capital .... although the dreamer in me would no doubt see a way round that too!

I was brought up by the sea, left to go to uni and never returned there. I miss it dreadfully - it is in my blood.

But, with a sick OH, being practical has to be top of the list. He does not get out much, but the DGC come to us - 4 of them are nearby - and this is what lifts his spirits without having to leave his own space. And the DDs are angels. DD up north is down 4 or 5 times a year with her brood and there is a jolly family get-together with the cousins enjoying each others company.

OK - no sea, but lots of compensations.

We do go to the sea once a year - and this year it will be twice. The DC help us with the travel etc - and I lap it up (not literally!) while I am there, say goodbye and look forward to next time.

OMG Anniebach I often dreamt of Alan Rickman sitting on in my bed. Not reading poetry though

Him and Mark Rylance (and I wasn't even put off when he was the BFG).

I also dreamed about Brian May (from Queen ) too . No accounting for taste I suppose.

I have only ever had one (proper) sexy dream in my life. Won't go into details but I woke up blushing and very disappointed that it wasn't true .

I live within about 2 minutes walk of the sea. Walking in the beach is my favourite pastime. Makes me laugh and cry.

Dreams are just that - dreams.
Reality has to take precedence, be it finance, family needs, health or whatever.
I may still play the Escape to the Country "game" but you have to live life as it is!

I play the "win the lottery game" MawBroon where I dream I won the lottery and bought DS and DDiL a small holding, my DD a coffee shop of her own and my DH can retire. Then...... I bloomin' well wake up.

As Dumbledore said in one of the Harry Potter books - "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live".

I have had dreams - none of which ever happened or is likely to happen - but I've always tried to be content with my situation at the time and that seems to have worked pretty well for me.

We were actively exploring the possibility of moving to the Welsh coast when DD announced that she was pregnant. It was game over then. Neither of us could countenance being hundreds of miles away from the grandchild we had spent years quietly hoping for, and all but given up on! It has been a good decision.

Isn't it strange how many of our dreams involve living by the sea?

After posting I spoke to my dh about this dream of mine...it will be tight but we are searching now however he would like it to be a second home...my dream is it must have an inglenook fire ...which we have...and a red hall wooden door that we can now have here....I am still dreaming of the ocean....if it does not pass I am hoping for next summer in Martha's Vineyard....I have always been a dreamer but I guess I'm not the only one..hope someday you will join me and the world can live as one!!!!!!!!!!

gilly, can I ask where you live? Coming up to retirement in a couple of years, and I'm hoping to move to the coast after growing up near the sea and at uni living in Brighton - can't wait! I won't know anyone there but feel I can get to know people through e.g. U3A (and I've seen how people just disappear off the radar at work when they retire, and that's where most of my friends are..)

I live in the North East on the most beautiful stretch of coastline devongirl but couldn't be much further away from either Devon or Brighton . We are a hardy lot up here as the weather can be quite "bracing" . My beach has the most perfect Golden sand but boy the North Sea is {{freeeeezzzzzzing}}

I do recommend living beside the sea though. Walking on the beach gives me the most wonderful sense of calm most of the time although sometimes it makes me feel tearful????? Not sure why. A sense of loss? Longing? I'm not sure. I spend a lot of time collecting sea glass and drift wood. I think I would find it quite hard to live further inland now.