Left Chicago in July, 1992 to cruise the world - bought a house Feb 2011. Lived aboard in Washington, DC and Annapolis for about 3.5 years. Other than that never in one place more than a year. Usually wintered someplace nice like Antalya Turkey, London, Beaufort, NC, Whangarei, NZ and Bellingham, WA.

Buying a house is just the beginning. Then there is furniture, car, taxes, utilities, gardening - Nell bought a dozen Japanese maples this year. The list seems endless. Moving from under 400 square feet to 3,000 is a big change.

On the good side we have a great house in a nice small town. I have the workshop and hamshack I always wanted (both works in progress) and wall & shelf space to bring out all the stuff we collected on our travels. And there is the puppy, now 52 pounds of high energy Border Collie.

Wouldn't trade it for anything.