Fall is my favorite season. It marks the year drawing to a close and puts us on notice that a new chapter is around the corner. It’s a good time to solidify decisions.

I’m guilty of looking on decisions as quick, binary matters. You either are or you aren’t. You know it now. Decide. Period.

That’s one of the things that happens when you’ve been largely responsible for your own life decisions for 30 years. Things are…simpler.

It doesn’t work that way in this life. It’s more of a process.

We’ve been all over the board these past months.

Sell, rent or keep? Buy or rent? Live both places or one?

Retire entirely, be of counsel or stay at the job?

Tampa, Key West, Silicon Valley or academic gypsies? Keep two places? Buy another SUV or keep our two sedans?

Here’s the thing. I have never truly rooted anywhere and M. has only rooted as a result of his job. We find that we are alike in one important way: we get the wanderlust. We like new environments. We’re a little bit nomadic at heart. Explorers, you might say.

At this stage of our lives, we don’t look at “The American Dream” the same way most people do. We look past assumptions that have long been part of traditional society.

For example, we don’t believe buying a house is always logical. Real estate prices are very low. But does it make sense for us to buy a house now, when half our dogs are elderly and our needs are going to change as they pass on in years to come?

We’re already locked into several properties with real recovery some five to 10 years off. No matter what the hype is, we aren’t going to see a return to those boom prices for a very, very long time.

Is it wise to lock ourselves into a big house that we won’t be able to sell in five years? when we still may want to be gypsies?

The other day I talked to my freshmen class about looking past “assumptions” because they can sometimes “make an ass out of you and me.”

We’re looking past assumptions and crafting a custom life. It’s a process right now and not a firm line. Something that’s new to me.

The leaves may not be changing here in Tampa, but many other things are. After all: it’s fall.