KIDDING AROUND

My wife, Ginny, and I ran our own business for 20 years, side-by-side. We were fortunate enough to come to the same conclusion at the same time, that we were done with the frantic pace and endless hours of running our own business, and we were both ready to make a midlife move. We sold “the farm”, or rather we “bought the farm”, and started a new life here in Blue Ridge, Georgia, on 50 beautiful acres.

A big part of the decision was our concern that our children were growing up so fast, and if we didn’t do something to change the pace and focus of our lives, we were going to miss the whole parenting experience. The kids had become just another one of our responsibilities to tend to; another item on our endless list of things to do, but what’s the point of having kids, if it’s not to enjoy the process of having them and raising them? When we asked ourselves that question, we knew something had to be done.

So we moved to Blue Ridge, Georgia, where the pace of life is a lot slower, but the focus on family and community is a lot more prevalent. We took some time to just be with our kids, and get to know them as they change and grow into young adults, and low and behold, they changed, too. They got energized, well balanced, and stopped any acting out or moodiness they once had exhibited in our “old” hectic lifestyle. They were not the same kids, they were happy, and thus, so were we. It’s amazing what a little time and attention can do for a child.

Moving from a busy life as successful business owners to a slower life here in the North Georgia Mountains has not been without its challenges. The biggest challenge is overcoming our own addictions to that frantic lifestyle, and not bringing your old ways with you. You have to stop and remind yourself why you came here.

Sometimes you may feel isolated or cut off from the modern world, but then all you have to do is remember why you came here, and what you hoped to gain, to realize everything you desire is within your reach right here.

For us, the decision to move here was to have more time for family and for ourselves, and although it hasn’t always worked out just the way we’d planned in our dreamy visions of how we thought it would be, all we have to do is look at our children to see, for better or worse, this move was a successful.