The story of my retirement and return to my hometown for 5 years
In recent years, more and more urban elderly people choose to move back to the countryside after retirement, mainly driven by the feeling of returning to their hometown, and at the same time believe that the cost of living in rural areas is low, life is comfortable, and the environment is pleasant. However, there are also many urban residents who have fled back to the city after trying, believing that the countryside is not suitable for retirement. In my opinion, this is more due to the overly complicated mentality of city dwellers.
My partner and I are ordinary retired workers, and our pensions add up to 6,000 yuan a month. Our daughter married in another city, far away from us, and this pension is enough for us to live in the city. However, we still want to go back to the countryside, hoping to reduce some expenses and save more money for retirement. Because we know that when we are old and weak, we can't rely on our daughter who is far away, and we may have to pay for a caregiver out of my own pocket or live in a nursing home.
After discussing it, we decided to go back to my hometown when I retired, and my partner was very supportive of this decision because she had always longed for an idyllic life. But in the city, buying a house with a yard is simply an unattainable dream for ordinary wage earners like us. Those dreams that can't be realized in the city can be easily realized when you return to your hometown.
Just as I was finishing my retirement and preparing to return to my hometown with my partner, a colleague of mine, Lao Yu, retired earlier than me and went back to the countryside to retire, and recently moved back to the city. We are neighbors in the city, but our hometowns are far apart, I am a local, and Lao Yu is a foreigner, and he has mentioned his beautiful hometown before.
When I learned that Lao Yu had moved back, I went to visit him to find out why he decided to return to the city soon after returning to his hometown for retirement. Lao Yu confided in me his unfortunate experience, and repeatedly advised me not to go back to my hometown to retire, he believes that the countryside is not an ideal paradise for the elderly, once I go back, I will definitely regret it.
Lao Yu shared with me a lot of things that happened to him in his hometown, and I was so sad that I came home and told my old wife. I suggested that maybe we wouldn't go back. My wife, who is optimistic and cheerful by nature, encouraged her not to back down when encountering difficulties, after all, everyone's situation is different, and the experience of old Yu does not mean that we will face the same problems.
My wife's words made me feel a lot brighter, and I felt that I might have been too worried before, and I always felt that there would be a way, and the worst case would be to go back the way I came. So, we picked a good day to travel and returned to our hometown with our luggage.
My hometown is famous for growing vegetables, and almost every household has its own greenhouse. I am the third oldest in my family, with two older brothers and one older sister. Both of my older brothers have passed away, and my sister has married in another village. Now only the eldest son of the eldest brother is left in the family to farm and grow vegetables in greenhouses, while the two daughters of the second brother have gone out to earn a living and married in other places.
Every time I go back to my hometown, I live in the old house left by my eldest brother. When my eldest brother passed away, he told me that his house should be kept and left to me so that in the future if I want to return to my hometown, I will have a place to live. My nephew grew up in our family because his mother died early and he lived with us when he was in school. My wife took good care of him like her own child. My nephew now has his own newly built bungalow, but he is happy to keep the old house in order, and we go back for a few days every Chinese New Year.
Although it is said to be an old house, it is actually renovated on the basis of the original old house, with four rooms with large tiled roofs, doors and windows have been replaced with aluminum alloy, and the floor is tiled. The bathroom is built in the side wing, which is connected to the main house, and the yard is also paved with cement and a roof to make the whole home look clean and bright.
After I informed my nephew in advance, when my partner and I returned home, my nephew Dazhi and his wife Xiaomei had already greeted us at the old house, they happily helped us pack our luggage, set the house in order, and Xiaomei prepared a pot of fragrant old hen soup in advance.
My wife and Xiaomei quickly prepared a few delicious dishes, and during the meal, Dazhi told us that the greenhouse needs to plant seedlings, and they are busy asking for help in the afternoon, and they may not be able to accompany us, so they will call him if they need anything.
So, my partner and I started living in our hometown, and in the blink of an eye, we have been living here for five years. We found that the life in our hometown is free and comfortable, full of strong human touch and life, which makes us truly experience the warmth and beauty of the world.
I compared the five disadvantages that Lao Yu had mentioned to me about living in a rural hometown, and found that the situation was not as he said
1.The environment is not bad, it is actually much better than I thought.
Rural areas now attach great importance to environmental sanitation, garbage disposal is orderly, sewers are uniformly planned, and sewage treatment facilities are installed in front of every household, which can effectively separate solid waste and sewage and avoid blockage. Every quarter, the village also organizes a free clean-up service.
The roads in the village were paved with concrete, and the year after I returned to my hometown, they resurfaced the asphalt road to a smoother one. The houses are also very well planned, decorated with beautiful landscapes and allegorical paintings, which are not only beautiful but also educational.
When I returned home, Dazhi joined me to a group where they would update information every day, criticize families with untidy environments in front of their doors, and have the village committee supervise improvements.
As soon as I arrived at the door of the house, I found that the yard was dressed in cement, and my wife had the idea of planting flowers, plants and vegetables, but there was no land available in the yard. So, we planted a small plot of land outside the gate and planted the seeds shortly after. At this time, our grid member Xiao Liu came to visit with the freshly picked melons at home, and chatted with his wife about his parents' shortcomings with a smile.
While chatting, Xiao Liu raised the issue that planting vegetables in front of the door might hinder the neighbors' travel, and proposed to move the grape seedlings outside the wall of her house to her wife and plant them next to the wall of our house. She said that as long as she built a shelf, she could eat home-grown grapes in less than a year, which was both beautiful and practical. My wife was happy after hearing this.
Time has passed, and the countryside is no longer the muddy roads we remember, and the days when a rain was full of mud and ideas are long gone. Now the roads extend in all directions, the haystacks are no longer visible, the winter nights are no longer worried about fires, and the new countryside has a new look, not just an empty word.
2.It is really a big misunderstanding to say that rural people are narrow-minded and difficult to get along with.
In our village, everyone is so busy that it's hard to see anyone chatting at the entrance of the village. Everyone is running around for a living, especially in the greenhouse planting seedlings, picking the best season, neighbors help each other, you help me today, I help you tomorrow, everyone works together, day and night to catch up with the deadline.
My wife and I are usually idle at home, and my wife wants to help out of curiosity but is afraid of causing trouble. Seeing our hesitation, Xiaomei warmly invited us to help her greenhouse. As soon as my wife went, I was attracted by the busy atmosphere and worked with everyone. When she is in a hurry, the neighbor next to her will laugh and amuse her.
My wife, a child born in the city, finally experienced the joy of working in the fields. When a neighbor needs help, she can't wait to help. Although the neighbors refused, saying that we city people might not be able to endure such hard work, my wife's enthusiasm did not diminish in the slightest, but they were worried that she was overworked.
They prepared light work for us without reservation, not only bringing us water and food from home, but also allowing us to join in their laughter, genuinely and without being pretentious.
When the first fresh vegetables and fruits are harvested, each family picks the best parts and gives them to us so that we can taste the fruits of their hard work. As a result, our kitchen is always full of ingredients that we simply can't taste them all.
The people in the village never asked us how much our pension was, nor did they ask why we chose to go back to the countryside to live a retired life. They are more concerned about how much they can harvest in their fields and whether they can make enough money. Everyone is busy looking forward, living a decent life, no one will elevate some people, belittle others, and no one will have time to talk about others behind their backs.
Although the interpersonal exchanges in the countryside are frequent and the burden on people is not small, it depends entirely on the individual. Human relations are everywhere, and how to deal with these human affairs actually depends on the individual's popularity. In my hometown, whether it is a happy event or a funeral, everyone goes spontaneously and does not need special invitation. Because true affection exists, people will naturally get together; If there is no affection, no one will force it. It's all based on mutual respect and without any coercion.
Although my partner and I didn't live in our hometown before, because my two older brothers were very respected and popular in the village, the neighbors were very friendly to us when we returned to our hometown. Therefore, no matter which family is happy or mourning, we always take the initiative to participate, and according to the degree of intimacy with the other party, we will prepare a gift of 200 to 800 yuan.
In fact, there are not many such events that can be attended each year. On the one hand, there are fewer and fewer young people in the village, and even if there are happy events, they are rarely held in their hometowns. On the other hand, there are not many elders in the village, and the remaining few old people, even if they pass away, are mostly happy and mourning, and the main family generally does not accept gifts.
I believe that this kind of interaction between people is not only a manifestation of interpersonal intimacy, but also a manifestation of emotional bonds. If we are indifferent to each other and do not care about each other at the important moments of life, then there is a lack of humanity in life.
When working in the city, colleagues often do not notify each other of their children's weddings, and it is enough to give each other candy afterwards to express their blessings. For the death of the elders in the family, everyone is often in the dark. Even if you have a good relationship on weekdays, once you step out of the office, the connection in your life is broken. It seems that everyone is careful to avoid any interdependence, for fear of accidentally taking advantage of others, or being taken advantage of by others, and the minds of people are indeed complicated.
In rural areas, medical facilities are indeed not as developed as in cities, and the problem of difficulty in seeking medical treatment will follow, as if they are asking for trouble. Even city dwellers feel the lack of medical resources. It can often be seen that in order to seek a better **, people run from small places to big cities, from rural areas to county seats, from county towns to provincial capitals, and even from provincial capitals to metropolises.
I always feel that the moon in the distance is rounder. However, for some minor illnesses and pains, whether in rural or urban areas, there are actually ways to solve them. Nowadays, there are also pharmacies all over the countryside, and health insurance cards can also come in handy. For serious illnesses, people may choose to go out to seek medical treatment, regardless of whether they are urban or rural. Therefore, I am worried that it will be difficult to go back to the countryside to see a doctor, and sometimes I am really overwhelmed, but I am just looking for trouble.
As for the cost of living, the rural areas are not lower than the cities, and shopping is not difficult. It may be because the mountain village in Lao Yu's hometown is relatively poor, while our hometown is relatively wealthy. Not only do we have a big market every five days, but we also have a supermarket and a wet market, so it's very convenient to buy things.
While people who pursue high-end consumption may be disappointed, as they get older, people tend to prefer a primitive and simple lifestyle. My partner and I feel that our daily expenses are no different from those in the city, and we even get to eat the freshest vegetables and wild seafood, even if it's a little higher, we are happy to buy it. What's more, we can hardly eat the vegetables and fruits that the villagers often give away.
Therefore, I don't think it's as bad as Lao Yu said. As a native of the countryside, he has a close relationship with the villagers, has a partner who grows up together, and gets together in his free time to recall the interesting events of his childhood, and no one feels that anyone is more noble.
Now that living conditions have improved, the living standards of rural people have even surpassed those of urban people, and no one envies anyone. There is no need to put yourself on top of the city and divide the people in the city and the countryside. Only by truly integrating into rural life can we enjoy that free, happy and comfortable life.
As urban people who plan to return to the countryside for retirement, they should be mentally prepared to accept the differences between urban and rural areas. It is too complicated to pursue the tranquility and idyllic atmosphere of the countryside on the one hand, and the prosperity and civilization of the city on the other.