That’s a good pace, now keep it up for another 30 years… 1

Following Frank – Four years post retirement

A series of articles starting 5 months from retirement

By Frank

Frank kindly offered to write a four-year retrospective of his retirement.  That makes him our first and final contributor.  Thank you, Frank!

Holy toot!  Four years have just zipped on by.  Who knew that retirement would be so delightfully hectic?  But wait a minute, I’m only 62 and there’s a possibility that I could still be kicking around when I’m 92.  That’s a lot of time to consider.

When I was a lad

Let’s do some reverse thinking; 30 years ago, I was still working on my PhD and was recently married.  Kids were in the distant future (or so I thought).  My whole life, both personal and professional, stretched out in front of me and was my oyster.  How was that different from the 30 years now standing before me?  I can’t honestly say that I had PLANS (I’m too much a short-term thinker for PLANS), but I did want a family, a successful career, and the usual material things both big and small.  I pursued all three (some more exuberantly than others) and after 30 years here I am – wanting nothing and with another 30 years in front of me.  Well alright, it would be good to have a 32-year-old’s body to sport around in, but otherwise I am very fortunate to be the person that I am, surrounded by people that I love, and with all that I have.  The one thing that I do not have now is any direction (note that I am still a short-term thinker).

So now what?

Good question!  I absolutely love what my spouse and I have been doing the last four years, but my mind gobbles at the thought of doing the same for 30 more years.  Shouldn’t I be doing something ‘worthwhile’ with my time?  After all, I’ve got a lot of time.

Let’s rule out working for money, as we have enough to keep us housed, fed, and vacationed and I really, really, REALLY don’t want to have to deal with bosses, clients, or customers of any sort ever again.

I’ve written before about being a volunteer, but nothing has called out to me and, truthfully, our ‘here again – gone again’ lifestyle does not lend itself well to any sort of commitment.  We’re very involved with our kids and their families, but that is a pleasure and doing something ‘worthwhile’ has to me the taste of duty and conscience.  Not my favourite flavour combination by a long shot, but can I live with myself if I am completely hedonistic?  It all makes my brain hurt so I guess I probably will just continue to pinball through life as I’ve done so successfully in the past.

Just scratch it

A cousin of mine was lamenting to me that he can now no longer play racquetball or golf and that his back has been causing him some grief.  I feel badly for him, but he should have expected this to happen eventually as he now almost 94 years old.  I know I won’t be able to do many of the things that I am doing now as both body and brain start to sputter.  Should I be doing more now?  Will I feel regretful that I haven’t used those 30 years well?  I really don’t want to be 92 and thinking that I just pissed away 30 years of life.

The real bugger is that there are no answers to my questions.  Some people are driven to perform in their retirement, probably much as they were throughout their life.  Others become almost vegetative without the stimulus of their work.  I can’t predict my future and I’m not going to force myself to do something that I don’t want to do.  So, for the next 30+ years of retirement, my PLAN is that if I have an itch to do something, well then, I will scratch it.