Anonymous wrote:What “rat race?” This isn’t a trick question. I don’t understand the OP.

Are you a bot? Not in the US? Fell off the blueberry truck yesterday? Don't know what Google is?

Anonymous wrote:We did! It’s lovely. We still work because we’re not quite at our financial targets for retirement, but we will easily be able to retire in our 50s. Both of us hope to work an additional 10-15 years in second careers that are less stressful.

Such as? What careers have you found that aren't stressful and would be not as much of a drag to work when you are aging out of the workplace?

Anonymous wrote:How about buying a second home as a getaway? A place to decompress from DC, but you still have access to things are still clearly important to you.

This is what we did except bought a second home when we were younger (30s) in Rehoboth.
We are 50s now and somewhat early retired. Any consulting we do (if we want) can be remote. Currently split our time between Northern Virginia and Rehoboth and are in Rehoboth now. I think we will soon eventually live full-time in Rehoboth for a while. If we do, then we will rent out the northern Virginia house. Once we get tired of living in Rehoboth and/or need serious healthcare then we would move back to the Northern Virginia house. I have met people in Rehoboth that are much older than us… around late 70s and they currently go back to DC or Baltimore for specialized healthcare. I don’t want to be 80 years old and having to drive a couple hours back-and-fort to get healthcare. Not good.

As for OP, I can see why Lewes isn’t a great fit. Yes, the locals with school-age kids are definitely different in terms of educational background, activities and worldview. I would’ve kept my kids in school in northern Virginia and then moved to Lewis after they graduated. (Though I much prefer the vibe of Rehoboth over Lewes). The average age of year-round resident in the city of Lewis and Rehoboth is in the 60s. They really don’t care about what’s going on with the schools so OP‘s peer group would definitely be the local natives.