“Age is just a number, but retirement is one of the greatest gifts to mankind.” “Retirement isn’t the end of the road, but just a turn in the road.” “You have to put off being young until you can retire.” These quotes all came from a retirement advisors website (https://www.aag.com/about-us/).
Having been retired for seven years as of the 31st of January, I’ll mull over these thoughts for a bit. My spouse and I, thank God, we were able to retire.
No one gets out of this current state alive. I become more aware of that as my various bodily systems race to kill me. Now that I can track my lab results online, it is getting even easier to watch the deterioration.
But that diminution is largely physical, the mental, at least for me, trailing behind the physical. I may not be able to hit a tennis serve without a back spasm, but I have the time to read, converse and write unlike any time in my long life. It is a beautiful “…turn in the road.”
Youth you say? It cannot be regained at some fountain near St. Augustine. Nevertheless, this is another childhood. I can laugh more than I have in about 66 years. I have zero annual reviews of my work per year. I can spend time with my grandsons sharing their toys or books and enjoy it to the fullest.
I hope each of you reading this is even more fortunate than my spouse, Kristine, and me in your latter years. May this time be the winter of your content. May your days be filled, by the grace of God, with little pain and much, deep, deep joy.
Pilgrim on a Long, Long Journey 