"You Don't Need to Retire to Move to Paradise…"

"You Don't Need to Retire to Move to Paradise…"

My friend Hollyn D’Lil moved to Sonoma County ten or 12 years ago. She has fully embraced life in the community of Graton, in West Sonoma County. She knows I work with many newcomers to Sonoma County to help them find their ideal wine country homes. Consequently she referred me to the new book by Dewey and Susan Watson called “Shift and Shout: Two Urban Boomers Prove You Don’t Need to Retire to Move to Paradise.” I moved to Sonoma County from the Bay Area and my high tech career in the late 90’s and Hollyn was right, Dewey and Susan have really captured much of the essence of life here in Sonoma County from a newcomer’s perspective. While some of the emphasis in the book is on the Watson’s boomer niche, I personally think that many of my younger non-boomer clients/newcomers to the county share many of the same sentiments, e.g. Chapter 9, “Why is Everybody so Darned Pleasant?”. I remember being shocked that the mailman would stop to shoot the breeze with me as he made his way through his route! Anyone with an ounce of garden can relate to “Finding your Inner Gopher”. I had no idea that one of the reasons the Russians may have abandoned their agricultural pursuits in Sonoma County were the gophers, though I can relate. And who knew that Caddyshack was based on the truth about gophers!

And seriously, Dewey and Susan give a nice overview of the varied communities and the high points of Sonoma County’s history. Good stuff for anyone considering moving here.

Shift and Shout.

Here is a link to Hollyn’s Review in a local paper. Let me know what you think!