What should I do

I sold our house, my ex-wife and myself in Las Vegas and moved to OKC into an apartment on a 4 month lease. I hate apartments but I had no choice because I was too weak and stress to go anywhere to check out. I’m 69 years old. I moved here because I have 2 cousins that live here and I have no immediate family and am all alone in this world except for my Irish setter. I have enough money to move anywhere in the US but I don’t know what to do or where to go. I search for hundreds of hours and never could figure where I want to go. I have this picture in my mind of the northern states away from the mainstream in an old house with a fireplace and the leaves falling and then watching the snow in a warm house with my dog. I just want to have a couple of months of serenity before I die. Over the last half year my stress has been at a 9 and I just want to have my stress at a 1 or 2 and relax with my dog, fireplace, big TV, nice thick rug and just fade off peacefully.

Hi Lost Soul
I can understand being torn between the comfort of family and the desire for peace and quiet... I always had intentions to move to a different part of the country too, but life kept getting in the way.. maybe someday.... I live in the North East. It is a lovely part of the US...but alot of areas are way over priced! And the winters get rough esp, if you need to do ur own shoveling! OW MY BACK!!...More rural areas are cheaper and we have alot of varying terrain so, i can offer some great towns and areas depending on what you are envisioning...open ocean? Seaside/harbor fishing villiage?, brackish marshy places? Woods? Small farm? Foothills?, Mountains? River/pond/lake? Quirky communities w/ local art, music, or craft colonies? The sky is really the limit up here! Lots of houses of all sizes dating frim the late 1600- present! Tell me whst ur dream property and community would be

Add on..** I am not a real estate agent. ** lol just wanted to say that bc i realized my reply sounded a bit like a sales pitch!

Thank you I have 4 months to think about it but I just might do something before. If I lose one or two grand, better than losing my life or part of it anyway.

I did what you did 9 years ago. Got fed up with me marriage & after my mom died & I sold her home I was finally free to leave Calif where I was born & had lived all 53 years of my life. I could go anywhere....I was free even without a divorce.

Only family I had was our daughter but I wanted to make my choice on where I wanted to live. Growing up in So Calif & having lived 20 years in the desert, I didn't want any more desert so that eliminated a huge section of the US. I had vacationed to our winter condo in Wyo & though I love snow & cold realized that having a horse where much of the year is snow & the -40 F winters at times wasn't what I wanted....so that eliminated all the northern states. I spent summers growing up in Kansas with grandparents & good but not the weather I wanted either. I had a business trip during my computer engineering career to an AFB in Georgia & forget the humidity....NO WAY. So the only state that was also horse friendly was Kentucky....so that is where I headed on a 2 week search trip for a farm that I could afford.

I wish I had rented to start with because I felt like if I hadn't bought a farm I would never get another chance to escape. Initially it wasn't about escaping & I thought that it was a change of environment that would help the marriage until I spent time alone fixing up my new farm & knew I could never go back to living with him EVER again.

I think what I would do is like you are doing now. Pick an area you are interested in & go there & rent again to see if you really do like it & look around the area for real estate while renting. If you find the perfect home & you like the area...great.

I didn't know anyone when I moved here. Now I'm an active part of the little 8000 people town & have NEVER been happier than I am now. Second half of life (even alone) is the best.

I walked away from everything. One truck load of not well planned things I ended up bringing with me....left cloths & lots of things as I've never had the money to make the 2100 mile trip(one way) to get back. & there never was communication because he was incapable of communicating. But the freedom away from that marriage has been awesome.

Have you checked out Portland (Maine) or Bangor, Maine?

posted by Eskie
This reminded me of a sigh I have hanging in my living room

"You're never too old to live happily ever after."

I just love this idea.

Dear lostsoul65
ok- I know I likely don't know anything about what you're planning, thinking, or asked here on 07/04/16, "What should I do",
BUT, I feel I must comment NOW
on NOT where you should go,

BUT WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY ,
"couple of months of serenity before I die...
...and just fade off peacefully"...to go anywhere to check out..."
??????????

Your spirit matters, not your physical location.
--Please tell me I misunderstood your statements, and you're not really going through all this extensive planning,
only to find a pretty, peaceful, serene place to orchestrate the end of your life, aka suicide???

Note: I quickly looked at your profile, 7 posts in 9 months, no friends listed, and you've discussed things such as,
"depressed for 13 years"...Your Japanese wife called police and left you because she thought you were poisoning her food...Sold your house in March to move to a retirement center...You're in physical pain...Moved to Las Vegas WITH your ex-wife...

If I understood the key points of your post (above in red), need to remind you that death is permanent, and everything you're planning and thinking about is just wasting energy that would be better spent fixing the issues in your life, that are making you miserable and depressed.

Your biggest problem, like my own, likely is, as you said,
"all alone in this world"

I too and most comfortable in pretty, serene, quiet places, but I also know I've felt happy/content too at times in my life when I've lived or been stuck in awful places=
And why? Because of the healthy people/relationships and good health, I had in my life during those times.

Always, it's not where you are, but how you feel that REALLY MATTERS.

Please reconsider focusing your energy into WHO surrounds you, instead of WHAT surrounds you - And also improving your physical health.
I hope that will bring you (and I) the peace + joy + contentment we desperately need to enjoy life.

Trust me, I know how important a home is (I don't even have one right now), but if I read your comments accurately, where you physically are, simply will not fix the biggest problems, you're now faced with.
I hope good things come your way, very soon.

Why do you think you are going to die?

5 years ago I left everything behind and ran to a cottage (with a fireplace) on a mountainside near lakes and ocean. It was fabulous. But it came to an end. I made the mistake of not researching the employment statistics in my little paradise. I lasted 7 months before my savings ran out.

Salem, Plymouth and Gloucester are in Massachusetts and are all gorgeous. I came from Massachusetts myself. We will never get younger. Find away to your dteams.