The year started well enough.
I lived in a beautiful house (which I spent last year renovating), with my wife and my two cats. We visited my family in France in May to celebrate my dad's 70th birthday. It was a fun trip. In early June, I bought a new car - a Mazda 3, which was a very fun car to drive (I put 14K miles on it in just 6 months, which seems like a lot for a retiree!). It looked like another good year in retirement!
Then, out of the blue, my wife asked for a divorce. It turned my whole world upside down. July and August were just awful, as I dealt with the shock (it was the lowest point of my 44 years on this earth). People who knew us were just as shocked and confused as I was. But I was blessed to have family members and friends who were very supportive (even though most of them lived halfway around the world). I started to hike and bike like a mad man to clear up my mind. The fog started to lift en September and I was able to start contemplating my future.
In September, we agreed on a divorce settlement (through mediation) and filed for divorced. My ex kept the house and the cats (a second heartbreak). All I had left was a big pile of money and a car. After 22 years in the US, I decided to move back to France where my family and many of my friends still lived. I sold all my investments in the US and started preparing for the transatlantic move.
I spent most of the Fall dealing with the logistics of the divorce and the move (closing joint accounts, opening new individual ones, transferring some of my savings to France, retitling the house and cars, etc...). As I started my new life as a bachelor, I made new, unexpected friends in the US. I continued to hike and bike daily. I was reading a lot and meditating. I engaged in deep introspection work (which was life-changing in itself). I regained some peace.
Two weeks ago, I arrived in France. For me, 2019 will be a rebuilding year. As I write this, I live in temporary housing and I drive a borrowed car (a Renault Twingo
). Everything is possible from here on. I should take delivery of a fun new car next week. Then I will start looking for a place of my own.
Financially, the divorce and the move took their pound of flesh. But I got lucky. I cashed in all my US investments near the peak of the market (in September) in preparation for the move. And the euro dollar exchange rate has been fairly favorable over the last few months as I was transferring much of my savings to France. So I can't complain.