The plan was to use this post as a springboard from A Modern Way To Write A Letter but plans often change and this one did.
There is a college girl in a room above me who has been home for a couple of days because she is on Spring break.
There is a note on my laptop to call her university because their fercockteh billing system has me wondering if I owe more money for the current semester.
The good news is if I do owe what they say I have the cash to pay it but the bad news is I was certain I had covered it all already.
Friends tell me that every university seems to have an issue with providing simple billing. It irks me to see a lack of clarity here because it shouldn’t be this hard to determine things.
After close to forty years of paying a variety of bills this is not new to me, yet they have managed to throw some mud on it.
All of which brings me to this idea we call retirement and my question as to when I will be able to do so.
I don’t know if I am going to be working for another 10 years or 15. It is probably a minimum of 10 but conceivably could be less just as it could possibly be more.
If things go as I wish retirement will be on my terms and I will work for as long as I feel like working and not an iota longer.
That may or may not happen, life has taught me some of my plans change regardless of my choices. Jobs and relationships end regardless of your feelings.
Sometimes that is a gift and sometimes it is otherwise.
I could tell you about some forced medical retirements that came for a variety of reasons. I know of some who had terminal illnesses that made it physically impossible for them to continue working.
But I also know of people in excellent physical condition who developed dementia and were forced out that way.
So much of life is a crap shoot, good genetics, bad genetics-pray for good luck. That might be most important of all.
Retirement on my terms is the goal with the understanding it may not be entirely up to me, there may be other factors.
None of that stops me from trying to control my own destiny. I may pivot, adapt and adjust because of need but always with the intent that I am controlling what I can.
It is part of why I don’t worry anymore about things like who kissed who first, who says I love you or who asks the boss for a raise even if you fear being rejected.
Talked about it again today, if you do not advocate for yourself you cannot be certain you will get what you wish. If you wait for tomorrow you may find out it doesn’t come.
So I figure I’ll put in my time and see what comes along the way. Maybe I’ll work another 30 years because I choose to and because it makes me happy.
Maybe I’ll win the lottery and go a different direction.
Starting a new week, all things are possible, but not all are likely.
Time to find out.
Well-chosen topic today.
I wish I’d dwelled upon it more often about 30 years ago, but it seems to be working out all right so far. You have the opportunity to make sure your college-aged housemate takes retirement seriously early in her adulthood, which is preferable to just assuming.
re: “Maybe I’ll work another 30 years because I choose to and because it makes me happy”:
That would be a fantastic way to go, wouldn’t it? I’ve run across a few people in that situation. I think you have to be blessed with exceptional genes.
I think there are quite a few of us who wish we would have done more to prepare for retirement. Sometimes I tease my kids and tell them that if they weren’t here I could have retired already.
It is probably true, but I wouldn’t give them up for anything.
Truthfully I think I have the genes to carry me through another 30 years. It is more a question of my focus on staying healthy and whether I am interested in going for the long haul.
I am a big believer in the impact of mental health upon our physical.