Ten months ago, I relocated to Greenville from a mid-sized town 40 miles west of Boston.  I was retiring and wanted to be closer to my grandson, daughter and son-in-law who have lived here for 10+ years.  I absolutely made the right choice and I just love the upstate.  In addition to the beauty of the entire area, the lower cost of living and the weather, the offerings are diverse.  I have met wonderful people through joining the Newcomers Club and enjoying their many events.  I have taken several courses at Furman University through their Learning in Retirement program.  I have enjoyed multiple types and styles of restaurants, the beautiful library system, the Art and History Museums and so much more.  This past week-end was a great example of local choices.  Thursday, I attended a Larkins Rhythm on the River event for $5 - a musical group playing beach and 60’s music in the outdoor amphitheatre overlooking the Reedy River.  On Friday, it was downtown for a free blues singer at a Main Street venue.  Saturday morning my grandson thoroughly enjoyed the “Touch the Trucks” event for free on Main Street as part of the weekly Farmers’ Market and a free interactive model train show at the Cultural Center in Mauldin.  Sunday, the family walked Main Street and the beautifully landscaped Reedy River Falls Park downtown.  How can it get any better?

We discovered Greenville “by accident”, but once we’d visited, we couldn’t get the place out of our minds.  For years as we traveled about on vacations, we would write down features we liked in each locale, gradually developing our “wish list” for what we wanted when we relocated to our dream location.  Greenville fulfilled all our requirements - it had about 95% of everything we were looking for - mild weather, colleges, sports, theater, an international community, continuing educational events, water, forests, close to airports, excellent restaurants….  We bought a place right downtown and can hardly wait to move into it.  Now we just need jobs!