• Kat Moore is a 38-year-old teacher living in San Clemente, California.
• Moore and her husband visited Sicily and decided to buy and renovate an apartment.
• Kat says the “adventure” has connected her to her mother, who moved from Cuba to start a new life.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kat Moore. It has been edited for length and clarity.

In 2022, my husband and I visited Sicily for the first time. I fell in love with the island and told my husband I wanted to buy a house there to live in one day. He thought I was insane, but I was adamant.

People in Sicily tend to lead a slower pace of life. In the US, there’s a huge emphasis on work as your identity. It’s stressful and overwhelming, and I craved a different way of life. A different pace.

Three years later, in March 2025, we were in Sicily for spring break, and I viewed 50 houses to get an idea of what was on offer and how much we’d be spending.

When we saw one of the last places we viewed, an apartment in Ortigia, the historic heart of Sicily, with a balcony overlooking the sea, I just knew — this was the house we’d buy.

I was ready to sell the house I grew up in

I wanted to put in an offer right away, but my husband questioned whether it was a financially sound move. I told him I was ready to sell my mom’s house in Miami — the family home I’d grown up in.

I was connected to my mom’s house, having held onto it even though my mom had died 14 years prior. She was Cuban and moved to the US during political unrest in Cuba in the 1950s and 1960s. She risked everything to find a better life in the United States, uprooting herself and starting fresh in a place and culture she didn’t know.

If there was any reason to sell her house in Miami, buying the apartment in Sicily would be a reason my mom would have approved of. I knew it was the right thing to do.

We put the house in Miami on the market, and it sold within a month. We used the money from the sale of the house to buy the apartment in Sicily at just under $600,000, in June 2025.

It needed a lot of work

The apartment needed a lot of work — a kitchen, new plumbing, electrics, and floors, and decorating throughout. The work alone (without any supplies) would cost about $96,000.

As I spoke Italian, I was able to find local contractors to carry out the work while we returned to California for our jobs. All the work was finished in about six months, with me going back and forth to Sicily at any chance I could to oversee the work done.

As my husband is in the military, he can retire in four years, and our plan would be to move into the apartment full-time then.

Even after he retires, I’d want to keep working. Perhaps I could teach English to locals, Italian to English-speakers, or work alongside local contractors as an interior decorator.

Until we relocate, we are going to rent the apartment out and visit as often as we can.

We also bought an orchard

In December 2025, on one of our trips to Sicily, my husband and I viewed an olive tree orchard. It had always been a dream to own land, and the 16 acres, full of olive, citrus, and nut trees, a small farmhouse, and within view of the apartment, would be the fulfillment of this dream. It came at a relatively low price — only $288,000. We bought it.

Both the apartment and the orchard are investments in our future. We’ll live in Sicily soon, and use the land and the apartment to supplement our income.

I get quite emotional when imagining what my mom would think of all this. I haven’t lost everything as she did, but I am leaving everything I know to live in a new place, as my mom and the rest of my family did.

I’m chasing my dream, seeing the potential of risk. I know that if my mom were still here, she’d be moving with me — she’d love the adventure. I feel connected to her more than ever as I dream, plan, and commence this adventure. If she could build a life from the foundation up, so can I.

• I’ve struggled to maintain long-term friendships as people drift away.
• My grandmother has kept the same close friends for over 60 years.
• Her approach taught me to prioritize time, loyalty, and showing up.

Today, loyalty seems hard to find. From people moving away to straight-up ghosting me, I don’t have as many long-term friends as I’d hoped to have.

I’ve read books on friendship, apologized when I’m at fault, and done my best to work things out, but I’m still always left craving community.

My grandmother, on the other hand, is an expert in long-standing friendships. At 91, she has had the same best friends for more than 60 years. All teachers at the same school, they started their careers together and stayed close, even long after they retired.

Loyalty has always been important to me, but as people have faded out of my life or abruptly left without a word, the longevity of her friendships has become increasingly impressive. How many people can say they’ve been friends with someone for six decades? It’s an accomplishment worthy of celebration. We celebrate marriage anniversaries — why not friendship ones?

A while back, I asked my grandmother what the secret to maintaining these relationships is. And while her generation didn’t prioritize self-preservation over community as we do now, some solid lessons still stand true.

Make time for each other

Throughout my life, I’ve seen my grandma invest in her friendships.

She’d host the group at her home for special birthday celebrations or a monthly lunch, or they’d spend hours talking on the phone. They had set appointments with each other, rather than our current tendency to make vague promises to “get together sometime” that we rarely follow through on.

For my grandma’s group of friends, these appointments weren’t seen as a burden or something to check off a list; instead, they were cherished moments they looked forward to spending together.

Don’t put yourself first always

Today, we’re so focused on ourselves that we rarely slow down to even assess what someone close to us might need.

My grandma’s friends showed that relationships flourish when people are willing to meet each other’s needs. Today’s culture is very set on putting ourselves first. But only doing what “serves” you often ends up serving no one. This was my grandma’s first and foremost advice when I asked why she thinks her friendships have lasted so long. “We put each other first,” she said.

When it comes to lasting friendships, sometimes what the other person needs matters more than what we want.

Value each other

My grandma’s friendships are strong in part because they truly appreciate each other. When I asked why her friend Clarice stood out to her, she said she simply acted with qualities she finds especially important: honesty and integrity. “It’s an honor just to know her,” she said.

My friendship goal is to surround myself with people I feel this way about, and to value them so they can say the same of me.

There’s a lot we could learn from older generations about friendship. People didn’t cut each other off over nothing, and the term “ghosting” was still a blessedly nonexistent concept. But more than anything, people just made time for what matters. No matter what phase of life you’re in, friendships require time, effort, and sometimes sacrifice.

I don’t know anyone else who has had the same friends for six decades, but I can do my best to strive toward lasting loyalty in my friendships — and maybe one day, I’ll be able to look back and see the same people with me now standing by my side in 60 years.

• Tehran has sent Donald Trump a 14-point proposal to end the US-Iran war.
• The president said he would review it, but doubted it would be acceptable.
• Oil prices have soared since the start of the war in February.

Iran has submitted a response to a US plan to end the war between the two countries, and President Donald Trump says he is reviewing it.

Guarantees of non-aggression, the withdrawal of US military forces from the areas surrounding Iran, and the lifting of the naval blockade of Iran’s ports are among the 14-point proposal submitted via mediators in Pakistan, according to Tasnim News Agency, a semi-official news agency associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Iran is also asking for the release of its frozen assets, payment of compensation, removal of sanctions, and ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, as well as a new mechanism for the management of the Strait of Hormuz, Tasnim reported.

Tehran stressed that the issues must be resolved within 30 days and that the focus should shift from extending the ceasefire to “ending the war.”

“I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but can’t imagine that it would be acceptable in that they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to Humanity, and the World, over the last 47 years,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Saturday.

Oil prices have surged since the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. A two-week ceasefire, starting April 8, has since been extended indefinitely, but has done little to bring down oil prices. The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway through which 20% of the world’s oil passes, remains tightly controlled by Tehran.

HFI Research, an investment research firm specializing in energy markets, outlined a grim series of events that could unfold in oil markets as the Iran war wraps up its second month with no peace deal in sight.

Meanwhile, Mark Malek, the chief investment officer at Siebert Financial, told Business Insider he expects a second wave of inflation caused by the Iran war.

“The gas pump is only the opening act. The real household inflation hit comes later, hidden inside everyday products,” he said.

• I was in the room when Warren Buffett unexpectedly sat for an interview on Saturday.
• He warned of a “gambling mood” in markets during Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting.
• The legendary investor also underscored the threat posed by nuclear weapons and deepfakes.

I was in the room when Warren Buffett sounded the alarm on “gambling” in markets, nuclear weapons, and deepfakes on Saturday.

During Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting, the company’s chairman and former CEO joined CNBC’s Becky Quick backstage for a surprise interview.

The pair’s conversation was broadcast live to the crowd of thousands seated in the CHI Health Center in Buffett’s hometown of Omaha.

I had a bird’s-eye view of the event from the press box overlooking the stage, and could see the crowd’s excitement at the prospect of hearing the business icon speak.

Buffett, a renowned bargain hunter, has struggled to find deals on stocks and businesses in recent years. He told Quick that today’s market is “not an ideal environment” for deploying cash.

The benchmark US stock index, the S&P 500, has surged by 27% over the past five years to record highs of above 7,200 points. Berkshire shares have slumped by 8% over the same period.

Berkshire sold a net $8 billion worth of stocks last quarter, fueling an increase in its cash pile to a record $380 billion at the end of March.

Addressing the challenging market and Berkshire’s ballooning cash reserves, Buffett said the company has the right people and is set up to “pick our spots.”

The business icon put his legendary patience into sharp relief when he said that out of the past 60 years, only “five of them have really been juicy.”

Buffett, 95, is known to invest only within his “circle of competence.” He told Quick that he has not learned about any new industries in the past decade, and doesn’t plan to change that.

‘Gambling mood’

Buffett described the market as a “church with a casino attached,” referring to the divide between speculators and long-term investors focused on company fundamentals.

“The casino’s gotten very attractive to people,” he said, nodding to the boom in short-term trading and more aggressive use of leverage in recent years.

“If you’re buying one-day options, or selling them, that’s not investing, that’s not speculating, it’s gambling,” Buffett said.

“We’ve never had people in a more gambling mood than now.”

Buffett couldn’t resist taking a shot at the “wonderful trading departments” that practically shut down during crises.

“Just try them out when the market is collapsing,” he said, adding that if they do pick up the phone, they’ll use any information you give them to “go out and kill you some other way.”

“It’s really like going to a slaughterhouse,” Buffett said. “You don’t feel like eating hot dogs for a while.”

From worry to hope

The mood in the arena turned dour as Buffett described the threat posed by countries with nuclear bombs and the risk that something could “fall out of the sky” at any moment.

The investor said it was important to be aware of that danger, but added that it does “no good to worry about it.”

Buffett restored the room’s good vibes when he joked about his lack of travel in recent years. When Quick asked if he had met the new managers of some of Berkshire’s key holdings, he sent ripples of laughter through the audience by quipping: “I haven’t met the old managers.”

The former Berkshire CEO, who made way for Greg Abel at the start of this year, also sparked chuckles in the crowd when he discussed the perils of marriage.

“But you can make mistakes with people, just look at the divorce rate,” he joked.

Along with his late business partner, Charlie Munger, Buffett is known for saying that a person’s choice of spouse is one of the most important decisions they’ll make in their life.

Buffett briefly commented on the rise of deepfakes and other forms of imitation, calling it a “scary” trend, especially at a time when several countries possess nuclear weapons.

He lifted the crowd’s spirits with his final comments. He heralded America’s remarkable longevity and lasting appeal as a place to live.

Then he reiterated his faith in the “golden rule,” which Quick clarified was the biblical advice to “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

“I’ve never seen anybody unhappy that behaves that way,” Buffett said.

Quick ended the conversation to whoops and applause with the words: “Warren Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway.”

• I started letting my toddler help cook to improve his picky eating.
• At first it was messy and frustrating, but he became more engaged with food.
• Cooking together built his confidence and made mealtimes more enjoyable.

I never thought I’d be the kind of parent who lets their child loose in the kitchen but, honestly, it’s the best thing I’ve done.

Like many toddlers, my 4-year-old was always interested in what I was doing, but amidst the daily grind of parenting I just wanted to get chores done as quickly and easily as possible.

I had enough to do without having to worry about little fingers getting caught under a knife or that resigned feeling where letting them “help” somehow creates more mess than what you were trying to clean up in the first place. I had heard of the Montessori school of thought that involving children in shared household chores helps foster independence, but honestly, I just wanted to get through the day without making life harder (or messier) for myself.

Everything changed when my son’s fussy eating became too restrictive. He screamed at the sight of food, refusing to touch it, let alone take a bite. A dietician told me I should try to improve his confidence by involving him in cooking tasks. How do you do that when mealtimes are already a mess? Then I started thinking, when is it appropriate to teach him how to cook? If it’s introduced out of the blue one day will he completely resist it?

I left home at age 18 barely able to cook toast, that’s not what I want for my children.

I started introducing simple cooking tasks

Still unsure, I started small by introducing simple cooking tasks like using cookie cutters to cut shapes into cucumber. And that was the day he started eating cucumber.

It grew from there.

From using knives to cut vegetables (with careful supervision and age appropriate tools), to turning on the oven, he’s now cooked all sorts of things. Nothing is off limits, one day he’ll be preparing vegetables, the next day we’re making sandwiches.

It has not all been smooth sailing. Learning to crack an egg has had its ups and downs — I don’t recommend tackling that particular skill unless you’ve got a few spare. I thought using the food processor would be a hit — but the noise resulted in a lot of crying. I tried using a hand blender instead, but in a moment of chaos the mixture ended up hitting the walls. Sometimes the clear up really does take longer than the actual cooking.

Embracing mess and enjoying the results

Yet despite my initial horror at the mess, it’s not the disaster I thought it would be. I had no idea the impact cooking independently would have on him. He has all the boisterous, insatiable energy that 4-year-olds have, a happy and chaotic whirlwind of physical activity.

But when he’s cooking his body becomes still and absorbed with concentration. All his energy becomes harnessed into a laser sharp focus. There are some things I tell him are grown up jobs only — moving anything hot, like a frying pan, is for him to watch, but not to do. He is careful not to get too close if there’s a spitting pan.

So when he asked me to let him cook dinner I didn’t hesitate to say yes, it felt like a natural progression. First of all he helped prepare the vegetables — peeling carrots is one of his favorite tasks. After the carrots he chopped a cucumber with careful precision. Then he measured out the spices into a bowl.

We used a kitchen stool so that he could reach, stirring the mixture around with a wooden spoon. He washed his hands thoroughly in the sink before and after tipping a piece of chicken into the mix. I reminded him which buttons to press to turn the air fryer on.

It seems so simple now, why didn’t I realize it before? Like any other skill, it doesn’t take long for the eggs to start hitting the bowl rather than the floor. And if there is any mess, we can clear it up together.

When there are constant demands on us to play or entertain, sometimes connection can be found over the simplest of tasks. In the kitchen we have become a team, and there’s nothing more satisfying than eating the resulting meal.

The offers and details on this page may have updated or changed since the time of publication. See our article on Business Insider for current information.

• Octogenarian Jacob Watson has opted to “age in place” at his three-bedroom, two-bathroom home.
• He shares it with tenants who spend eight hours weekly helping with chores, like shopping and cooking.
• In exchange, they pay reduced rent. He said it’s a win-win: they save money and he gets assistance.

This interview is based on a conversation with Jacob Watson, 84, an ordained interfaith minister, writer, and former grief counselor, from Portland, Maine. It has been edited for length and clarity.

My late wife, Kristine, and I were grief counselors, which inevitably led us to discuss our own arrangements for the end of life.

We decided we wanted to “age in place” and stay in our 2,100-square-foot home, built in 1915.

The downstairs bathroom was converted into a handicapped-accessible bathroom with the intention of us living on the first floor as we got older.

But the “we” never happened. On August 3, 2021, a few days after our 33rd wedding anniversary, Kristine died of a heart attack at 71. It was a terrible shock to me and everyone in the family.

I considered an assisted living facility

After that, I lived alone. However, since I have macular degeneration, my vision has gotten progressively worse. I found it increasingly difficult to see everyday things like the numbers on the stove or microwave.

Three years ago, I began to think, ‘I can’t do this by myself.’ I seriously considered selling the house and moving into an assisted living facility.

I thought it would be a relief to know that someone else was taking care of me and would fix anything that went wrong with the property.

But I got almost physically sick when I visited the facilities. I knew the lifestyle wasn’t right for me, and I wouldn’t feel independent or stimulated.

Besides, those apartments are in such high demand that I could have been on a waiting list for two years or more.

It dawned on me that, if I wanted to stick to my original plan, I’d need to take a deep breath and ask for help.

I needed help with my eyesight issues

I figured it would be a good idea to have someone live under the same roof who could watch out for me. They could take over the upstairs — which had two bedrooms, a living room, and a full bathroom — and I could live downstairs.

In 2024, I actively started looking for a housemate or two. In return for a reduced rent, they’d do a few things for me, like cooking an evening meal twice a week, going to the grocery store, and occasionally driving me places.

My acquaintances shared the blurb I wrote with their own contacts. The rent would be $1,350 a month, including utilities, in exchange for 8 hours a week of help with my eyesight issues.

It could be anything from assisting me with my Mac to putting out trash and compost for pickup. I also asked for a weekly check-in when we could discuss the division of the chores and other matters.

My first housemate, Karrie, a 50-year-old physiotherapist, whom I met through my massage therapist, arrived in November 2024 and stayed for a one-year lease.

My daughter, Sarah, 56, who lives about 20 minutes away, made a point of coming over to help me interview her. She obviously wanted to know who this person was who was coming to live with her dad.

Then my current helper, Kathleen, 39, who works for a nonprofit, moved here in January 2026. She is due to move out at the end of May, so I’m hoping to find another natural caregiver to replace her.

We don’t live in each other’s pockets

Both Karrie and Kristine proved to be an excellent match. They’re very independent, and out of the house most of the day, either working or socializing.

It definitely helped that we had our own interests and activities. I’ve always kept busy with my writing, which includes books about grief and meditations, and I have a large network of friends and family.

It wouldn’t have worked so well if my housemates and I lived in each other’s pockets.

One of the most useful things is being able to compose a grocery list and have someone else shop for me. I also really benefit from being able to share the household cooking.

We have a whiteboard in the communal kitchen to keep track of our weekly dinners. Kathleen often prepares larger meals that last for a couple of days, which is a great idea.

It’s been an adjustment to have housemates

There’s also something very reassuring about knowing someone is there in an emergency, such as if I have a fall. Our house is old, and I used to think the creaking and groaning of the floorboards were bad.

Now, when I hear them, I think of them as a positive thing because I know I’m not alone.

It’s been an adjustment to open my house to other people. But so is aging in general. I feel blessed and grateful to be living this interesting situation as I get older. It feels like a win-win.