My dad was ill for most of the last five years of his life.

Indeed, there were times that if good medical care had been more than a few minutes away, he might not have made it. That's why one piece of advice he gave me has really stuck with me -- to make sure when we decided where we were going to retire that there was good medical care close at hand.

That's why when we shifted our attention away from Virginia and looked farther south, when we were trying to decide between Mt. Juliet, Tenn., and Fort Mill, S.C., we realized that neither of them passed a very important test. Even though Mt. Juliet is just outside Nashville and Fort Mill is five miles or so from Charlotte, N.C., neither had what my wife wanted as far as health care.

We have had a Blue Cross HMO for most of our marriage. For a good part of the time, it worked out fine. But as we have gotten older, as we have had more need for specialists and we have occasionally had trouble getting referrals. So Nicole decided that she wants to shift to Kaiser Permanente for our retirement, and neither Tennessee nor South Carolina has Kaiser.

Georgia, however, does.
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Georgia also has a <a href="http://www.pulte.com/delwebb/communities/ga/griffin/sun-city-peachtree/index.aspx">Del Webb community</a> just south of Atlanta -- about 35 miles south -- that has fantastic home prices.

We're going to be able to get more house than we would have had in Virginia for about $40,000 less than we would have spent up there.

The community is built around a golf course, which really appeals to me, and one very nice side benefit is that for the first time in nearly 30 years, I'll be living within a half day's drive of my very good friend Bill Madden. He's in North Florida, and I figure he ought to be able to come up for golf once or twice a month.

It will be strange to be back in the East. I have lived in the Pacific Time Zone for nearly 22 years, and the last time I lived in the East was 1984, when I was in Anderson, S.C.

One thing is sort of odd. I have lived in so many places in my lifetime that I have no idea where I would want to be buried. I might be cremated, but I'd hate to have my kids having to lug my ashes around the world. I don't think I'd impose that on anyone.

So Georgia?

Could be interesting.

I'll definitely have to become a Braves fan, but there's no way I'm going to root for the Falcons, the Hawks or the Thrashers.

But hey, how 'bout them Dawgs!