I want to start out this post reminding you that not all hotspots are bad. I know during these pandemic times we all likely cringe when we hear that word. It means that during these times of a totally incompetent White House occupant and a czar in charge of the U.S. Senate, that we are paying the price of more deaths. I pray that none of you have lost love ones due to our this dysfunction.
But, lets get to where “hotspot” means something good, even it is coming from something bad. 🥴
I have been looking for places where I would like to finish out my life on this planet. Until recently, I thought it would likely be New Mexico, particularly Santa Fe. One of the primary reasons I have wanted to move away from the Midwest is due to the winter months. Associated with my deafness, I have a very poor sense of balance and that doesn’t go well with ice and snow. I have fallen more than a couple of times that resulted in broken ribs, back compression fractures and a lot of pain.
Now, finally, let’s get to the topic of good hotspots, I am beginning to think that in the coming years the Midwest will become THE hotspot for retirees and those who simply want to escape the icy weather. The last few winters have been so mild as to make snow almost non-existent. In southern Indiana, at least where I live, we got only one snow during the 2019-20 season that totaled a little more than one inch and for the most part temperatures were seldom below freezing. Meanwhile, most of the Southwest has been blistering summers with temperatures frequently at 100+! Who would want to endure those conditions? No, the SW is just too hot for me. I know this is all due to global warming, but at this point I don’t think we will ever be able to go back to what it used to be. We need a new paradigm.
I need to take a serious look at just staying in place here. Maybe I don’t have to take the disruption of starting a new life when the old one is beginning to look better and better.
If I were younger, I might even consider looking for land that will be gobbled up by retirement community builders in the coming years. Come to the Midwest where we have mild winters and tolerable summer temperatures could be the new mantra for my part of the country. 😉
The only thing that I might need to escape from are the MAGA folks in my area who just don’t seem to have a lick of sense, or maybe they are just idiots. I haven’t decided which yet. (just kidding). I am hoping that come 2021 they will settle into the background and leave the rest of us alone. They will soon be so outnumbered by such a level that they likely will all just want to move to Idaho/Montana/Wyoming/Dakotas where they would feel right at home with all the white survivalists there. We might even want to consider giving them that area for their own country just to get them out of our hair. 🤪 I wonder what they would name it.
I told you I was going off the reservation… so don’t say I didn’t warn you about these types of posts.
RJ's Corner 
Stan Hinden, who for seven years wrote a Pulitzer Prize-nominated column in The Washington Post titled “Retirement Journal,” once told me the worst mistake you could make in retirement is to move to Florida or the Southwest (particularly, Arizona).
He made the mistake himself.
Not only will you need to reestablish connections with your community, you’ll discover that community is largely geriatric. Worse yet, no one will visit you, despite the endless promises to do so. They’ll never say it, but no one has the time or the money or the generosity to sacrifice a trip to a “Bucket List” destination for a week-long visit with you in Geezerville.
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Thanks for the thoughts, Robert. I totally agree with you about friends you have left behind visiting. My wife and I watch “Househunters” TV show every day at lunch and so many of those who move away insist on the new home having an extra bedroom for all the guests that will be coming to visit. In many cases, they are adding 10-15% to the cost of the house for a room which is seldom, if every used, Geezerville or not. Let’s face it when you move away most friends will soon forget you.
On the connections part being a deaf Aspie makes me see that quite differently than most. All my life I have never had but a few people who I would call “close friends” Most are just acquaintances. Very few would take the time to learn even rudimentary sign language or go out of their way to find other ways to communicate I might suggest. Being a person with some strong Aspie traits, I most often speak my mind and that puts many people off, and the lack of eye-contact makes first impression null and void for many. So, I really don’t have much to miss if I were to move. Yeah, new doctors and such but that is about it.
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