Quality of Life?

What is quality of life? I guess it depends on who you are and what your values are. I think most of have at least a basic idea of a standard for quality of life. Being able to walk, feed and dress yourself, etc. Almost everyone I know indicates that if they were paralyzed they wouldn't want to live anymore. The same is almost true as we get older and lose our functionality.

But this isn't what I am referring to. That's a little too dramatic. A bit too extreme. Let's bring it down a notch or two and think about quality of life in reference to where and how you live. The largest argument I keep hearing from people to move to Bozeman is for the quality of life. I also understand that Bozeman is now in the top 10 dream places (#1?) to live. The question is why?

How about the fact that yesterday I played golf int he morning with a friend of mine and the temp was in the 70's. It had warmed to 82 by the time we were done and then I rode motorcycles and never saw the temp climb above 85. This is in August and it's over 100+ back home and has been for over 20 days.

You can walk out of your door and camp, hike, bike, kayak, do river floats, fish, base jump, climb, and that's just in the summer. In the winter you have tons of winter sports such as skiing, boarding, tubing, snowmobiling, etc. It is truly an outdoor person's paradise.

But nothing comes without consequences. It's VERY expensive to live here as I have indicated over and over again. So most of the arguments I hear are that you have to give up something to live here but it's worth it.

For me, I tend to disagree with that. Obviously as I am not moving here. For starters I am in a very comfortable spot financially right now. I don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but working up here all the time has allowed me to save some money and get some things accomplished in my life. I am not rich, nor do I have an endless supply of money. But I don't have to worry about it right now (that can always quickly change). I can take Robert and his wife out for dinner as a way to say thanks for letting me borrow his bike and not worry if I can afford it.

This is because I don't have an obscene mortgage payment. It's also because the state is raking 11% off the top of my gross income.

I have a 2000 sq. foot custom built home, a motorcycle, a truck and a boat. If I were to move to MT I would have to scale down to a townhouse or a trailer home to keep my liquid cash flow about the same. I might not be able to afford the upkeep on all the toys.

Then there are the trips that I take. This year I went to both Europe and Jamaica. I also had purchased a season lift ticket and snowboarded almost every weekend. I can take off at a moments notice and fly just about anywhere to do whatever I want. That would all go away if I moved to MT. The trip I have planned to Rome and Greece would have to go on the back burner.

I guess what I am getting at is that while it may be great to walk out your door and do all these wonderful things, you CAN'T do them if you are living in a crackerbox eating Ramen noodles because your mortgaged to the hilt and your income has been dramatically reduced.

So that's my quality of life rub. Have all these things available to do here in Mt, but give up space, toys, trips, seeing my family, and general financial stability. I don't see that as much of a choice. My quality of life has a lot more to do with what I am able to do, not what I could do if I had the money.

And as far as leaving all this behind? There is always vacation.....Because I can afford it.