Soon my parents are planning on moving. They’re going to sell the house I grew up in and which they lived in for 18 years, quit their jobs and take off for West Virginia.

I admire them for being able to make such a radical change in their lives. I say this even though I’ve made perhaps even greater changes in my life. One could say I have a track record of bumping around the world, getting into different careers and marrying girls I find along the way. It would be a slight exaggeration of course, but it serves to frame my unexpected admiration of my parents. They are going to do something I’m not sure I could – become mountain hermits. They’ll be living away from cities, shopping malls, theaters, people, and all the noise and bustle that those things generally entail. Sounds nice at first thought, but I think someone like me might go crazy.

What it says is that my parents are content with nothing but each other and the house they’ve built together, and that’s something to be proud of.