Here I am, one year after writing the post below. My view of retirement has not changed. Life today is filled with consistently doing what I enjoy doing. No rush or wrapping it around employment.
I must say at this point how grateful I am to Almighty God for his faithful provision. To be honest, I never in my life, until just a few years before I retired, thought that we would be in the position that we are in now.
Looking back, I can see the hand of providence silently guiding our path to prepare us and when we were ready, it all came together. It is amazing to reflect on this.
Today, 18 months into it, I am living my dream.
The true blessing is that I get to write about it here. While not having a massive amount of subscribers - (pushing 300 now and gaining more each day with more than twice that amount of followers), I have met, virtually speaking, some wonderful writers. Thank you to all for enriching my life more than you could ever know. It is all very humbling.
Without further adieu, here is what I wrote then:
Perspective: Retirement at Six Months In
July 20, 2023
Just a short post today to say how grateful I am to be at this stage of my life …
True retirement should never be about idleness or a cessation of work. Retirement should be about transformation, transition, and the pursuit of different and exciting things that we’ve not had the time or opportunity to do yet.
I wrote that in my very first Life UnCorked post a mere six days after I “hung up the work shoes” for the very last time. You can check out that inaugural post here:
Six months into this new leg of life’s journey, I have embraced this philosophy more than ever.
Now I know what my Dad meant when he said, “I’m so busy, I don’t know when I would have time to work.”
Just being able to make plans centered around our personal schedule vs. a job is huge.
I still get up fairly early, but I don’t have to if I don’t want to. I love the quiet morning solitude in my rocker on the front porch with a cuppa’ joe, my Bible, a view of the mountains, and telling God how thankful I am for his goodness to us.
Most evenings, I’m back out to watch the spectacular sunsets over those same mountains.
Susan, my wife of 41 years, and I have traveled, hiked, kayaked, and just chilled together, all centered around our own schedules, not someone else’s.
We spend a lot of time with our grandkids. They frequently spend the night at “Pops and Grammy’s house”.
I never dreamed in all my working years, especially the early years, that I would be in a position like this. I always worried about how we would make it when we got to this age.
But, here we are.
And now, I am fulfilling my long-time dream of being a real writer.
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Until next time, friends …
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You've painted a picture of paradise! Especially those mountains. I feel like plenty of people don't pay attention to the simple pleasures. To me, your retirement life sounds perfect 🥰