Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm sitting at the library writing this. I'm prone to do that when I get cabin fever or just need better feng shui. Now, one thing I've noticed over the years is the preponderance of old men who show up at the library and read newspapers all day. In fact, there are a couple who not only show up at this library to read, but then go to the bookstore to read. They have wedding bands, so I'm assuming that their wives have booted them out, having been used to all those years where their husbands didn't come home from the office until 6 p.m.
Not too long ago, one guy even strolled up to my table and asked, "Do you think broccoli tastes different than it used to be?" I gathered that he was bored witless, so we chitchatted about broccoli for several minutes. It was a friendly discussion.
As he thanked me for the conversation, he started to leave and said, "You'll be old one day, too."
"If I'm lucky," I replied.
"Not the way I see it," he shot back.
So when we get to the end of our working days, what do we plan to do with the time? I know this sounds like a Retirement Forum question, but to me it's more of a lifestyle question. What do you plan to do? Stare a hole in the television? Pursue interests? Travel? And if you want to do that when you retire, why not do a little of that today?
There are SO many things I want to do in retirement that I don't have time to do right now!!! I wish I could retire tomorrow and get started!
When I retire I will...
build and live in a "retreat" in a neat little mountain community
plant an apple orchard
plant a pumpkin patch and sell my pumpkins along the roadside every October
volunteer at the local elementary school to read to the kids or help with homework
travel to Ireland, New Zealand and England
Visit folks in nursing homes
Rock the sick babies who need extra TLC at the hospital
Become a girl scout leader
learn to play the fiddle (that's a violin for those of you who don't know!)
host big family gatherings once a year at my place in the mountains
Read more books
Hopefully more of the same things I would be doing if I didnt have to work. Sleep later, actually finish a cup of coffee while it is hot, sipping it while enjoying the view from my deck. Eating breakfast. Riding horses, hiking in the woods with the dogs, raising rabbits, goats and chickens, fishing, gardening, planting flower beds, cooking, quilting, spending time with my grandkids, volunteering in the community, traveling.
I believe you just answered your own question. We're not promised tomorrow, or any quantity of tomorrows. All we have for sure is today.
Pay attention. Notice the colors. Do one thing you love every day (or 3 things, or 10 things).
Plan for retirement, and thoroughly enjoy the thinking, planning, anticipating, dreaming. But don't wait to do the living - that belongs in the here-and-now.
And yet there are people who watch TV every night. Go figure. Here's my list:
1) Go sailing. Mrs. CPG35223 has consented to live on a sailboat with me for 4-5 years. Right now, the countdown is at 8-10 years.
2) Even if we don't do the sailboat thing, downsize immediately after the last child is clutching his diploma. Why spend my life mowing the grass and puttering around in a garden.
3) Go back and get a 3rd degree. Maybe a master's.
4) Volunteer. I've been active with the homeless and found it really rewarding.
5) Build a really bitchin' train set. Build model rockets. Learn to fly.
6) Dust off the drum set and start my punk band, The Baby Harp Seal Hunters, again.
When I retire I'm going to hide and not tell anyone where I'm at because I already know that if people knew I had "free time" on my hands they'd want me to do something for them.
Retirement years scare me. Cost of living being so high, many people are still working into their 70s. Benefits don't pay for much anymore either unless your very lucky. At some point we all lose control of our faculties and we can't work anymore, then what? Our middle aged kids have to care for us and become the parents?
I saw my once brilliant and active grandmother fall victim to alzheimers in less than a year. Its heartbreaking to see how fast our bodies and minds decline. And my retired parents now care for her.
Hopefully I'll be living ok and relaced and getting to regularly see my grandkids and grown children on a regular basis and reminice the old days of the early 2000s with my peers
I have to say, I'm with SubaruFiend! I want to retire somewhere with VERY little winter (i.e., snow and cold) and near the water. I want to be able to travel to all the places I never could before due to work, kids, animals, etc.. LOL
I want to just enjoy life at a different pace and not worry about the daily grind like I do now.
My local chinese restaurant offers Feng Shui in their lunch special menu. It comes with an eggroll. LOL
Now seriously, I would do what my wife's grandparents (they're in their late 60's)are doing right now. They bought an RV and are travelling across the US. Taking their time and stopping just about everywhere. I would love to do that.
We love the "camping life"! Our plan includes doing this also. I would also love to volunteer. I'll have to figure out a way to mix the two.
Talking about living for today. a couple of months ago I started a list of things i've never done that I would like to do b4 I die. I'm only 33 but figured I should get started. LOL
I have to say, I'm with SubaruFiend! I want to retire somewhere with VERY little winter (i.e., snow and cold) and near the water. I want to be able to travel to all the places I never could before due to work, kids, animals, etc.. LOL
I want to just enjoy life at a different pace and not worry about the daily grind like I do now.
I'd like that too. My problem being I want to experience everything with my kids and have my kids experience things while they are young. Doing it alone or only with my spouse can be fun, but I'd be thinknig the whole time "I bet the kids would have love to see this". lol
Maybe that'll change when they become teenagers or have been on their own awhile. Thier still young and full of wonder right now, so I'm all into taking advantage of that while I can.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
