| Until we get past the age of sixty, we do not think | | | | groceries. Oh, and did I mention watching TV. |
| about growing old. We do not think about retirement. | | | | The point I am making here is that doing nothing is |
| It has nothing to do with us. Think again. | | | | not good for us. For a short time, we probably need |
| Now that I visit my mother in a care facility several | | | | to relax and do nothing. But eventually, we become |
| times a week, my mortality faces me. | | | | bored and our brain starts to sleep. As human beings |
| I remember my father after retirement. He watched | | | | with massive potential at all stages of our lives, we |
| a lot of TV. He talked about how great things would | | | | need to learn and grow always. |
| be when he was retired, but he did not visualize it or | | | | I believe we need to plan for our retirement. |
| plan for it. | | | | Retirement to me does not mean stopping what we |
| Did I say that he watched a lot of TV? And he | | | | are doing. It means doing something different. I |
| watched it with the volume down, as my mother | | | | believe that my father would have had a more |
| never liked TV and would continually ask him to turn | | | | fulfilling life and lived longer had he created a |
| it down. My Mom was a person who was irritated | | | | woodworking shop for himself when he retired. I |
| easily. | | | | believe my mother would be healthier today if she |
| In my fathers early career days, he worked with | | | | had made herself a garden and not concerned herself |
| wood. He loved wood. There are many souvenirs of | | | | with how loud the TV was. |
| his woodworking in our homes today. I believe that | | | | I know that we need to be physically and mentally |
| woodworking was his passion but being the | | | | active all of our lives. |
| breadwinner and supporting a family was his priority. | | | | What do you imagine retirement is? Or do you even |
| Woodworking became his weekend hobby. | | | | visualize yourself as older and out of the rat race? I |
| When my parents retired they sold their house, | | | | know it seems a bit premature for a lot of you but |
| where my father had a workshop and my mother | | | | think of it this way. If you live a full and happy life |
| attended a garden of vegetables and flowers. They | | | | today, why would that change because you are over |
| moved from a small town to the city to be close to | | | | sixty? |
| my sisters. They rented an apartment on the sixth | | | | I know for sure that I will be busy and stimulated |
| floor of a concrete building and began to enjoy their | | | | until the day I can not longer move. I know that I |
| leisure time. | | | | have better things to do than obsess about my |
| Their new life consisted of driving one of my sisters | | | | ailments, complain about the state of the world and |
| around (she never learned to drive), and shopping for | | | | wait for the angels to take me to my next life. |