Retirement

Terry

Terry

Line Up and Wait
Joined
Apr 3, 2005
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LaCrosse
Display Name
Terry
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KHYS
This is my thoughts as I retire July 31, 2012. After reading Aunt Peggy's thread about being locked out and the Flame wars, I started reflecting on this board and the give and take that moves through the board. Enjoy.


Entering The Autumn Of My Life​
I knew it was coming a few years ago. I gave up fighting the waist line and playing basketball and sports in general. It wasn’t so much the physical stress that affected me as much as the mental stress. I was not ready for the mental slow down.

I turned 65 without much fan fare but a nice birthday party and good fellowship with friends and my wife of 40 years. My, how the time has flown by. Seems like only yesterday I was at the top of my game. I showed others how to succeed and taught others how to live life to the fullest. Now, I am being shown, very graciously by others, how to sit back and let someone else take control of the situation and life’s challenges.

I sit in amazement at the computers and applications that I see interact effortlessly with the younger generation while I struggle with email and face-book and all of the smart phones. I recall, much to the younger generation’s chagrin, how I made it through life without any of these fancy gadgets, but deep inside, wish I could handle the information age with as much ease as they do.

I am forced, by my physical limitations and also my mental limitations, to stand down while my mind still tries to handle situations like I did 40 years ago. Am I ready to give up? No way!

I am ready to enter a new phase in my life. It requires walking away from all of the electronic gadgets and life style that I have grown dependent on. It requires walking toward my children, grandchildren, and wife to re-discover the fun filled weekends, the evening games, the holding of hands, and the enjoyment I get when I just stay close to her. After all, she is the one who gave me meaning and direction when I met her. We have raised her 3 children, adopted 4 more, and fostered several more. What a fulfillment I have received from marrying her.

All of my life was planned to work toward retirement. Now, slowing down has to be planned as well. I have a fear of becoming not needed. Not a big fear but somewhat a fear of being left out. I watched as my parents aged and then passed on. I watched as Robert, and Mary, my in-laws, who were so vibrant and independent, slowly wind their life down in a nursing home. How many times I prayed they would pass on without the indignity of nursing home care that is inevitable.

So, the problem is learning to stay busy and focused with purpose. I must adapt and change over to a different mindset and mental strategy. I must find purpose when it is not obvious, keep applying myself to things I can do and be good at.

I am good at building relationships because I have spent the last 40 years building relationships with friends and families. I am good at being a grandparent because I love kids and enjoy being around them. I am good at being a parent because no matter how old I get, they are still my children. I am good at loving life and enjoying the day. I am good at flying, since I haven’t crashed, fishing, picnics, and just having a good time. I am good at living.

When I think my retirement through, I am happy I have made it this far. I am looking forward to entering the autumn of my life. Winter is still some time away and I plan on enjoying this autumn to the fullest. I may be older and slower but I am more matured and have had more experience in having fun and enjoying life than my younger friends.

I think I will go and find the love of my life and see what mischief I can get into. Yes sir, I think this is one autumn I am looking forward to.

Terry
 
Sounds like you have a solid groundwork. Many of us are not so fortunate.
 
The biggest hurdle I encountered when I pulled the plug was the intense and sudden deceleration in the pace of my life. As much as I used to complain about the pace of my life when it finally ended I was looking at huge empty time slots and wondered what to do to fill them up.

Then the answer came: Not one damned thing that didn't make me happy. Look at it like this, you've spent your whole life meeting schedules and the expectations of others. You've busted your hump to set yourself up for the coming years, so take a few of those years to do nothing but readjust your reality.

The things I discovered were that family counted, staying in touch with those who became close in your career counted. (And having the luxury to completely forget the a**holes you had to be with out of necessity counted more) I spent one year travelling to the places I had promised my wife we would see "one day", and part of another deciding if I wanted to take a couple of job offers that while lucrative, would have been time vampires. (No Thank You) You seem to be on the right track......kick a few leaf piles!!
 
I'm 43 and have found why they call it a mid-life crisis. I'm convinced that growing old gracefully involves a change in mindset. As I'm still struggling to find what that change is I can't put it in words but your post does a damn fine job of showing that change and how it should be done.

Too many men fight the change by riding fast bikes and fast women when they should be embracing the life yet to live.

Thanks for the great post Terry!
 
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Fly as much as you can.... Live life like there is no tomorrow because one day the great human " starter "will fail for all of us and all that's left is a pine box. And it ain't got a prop on it either.:sad:
 
I'm in the big void of no resposibility. Have been for 10 years. Its taken 5 of the 10 years to start to slow down from 10-12 hour days, 6-7 days a week to 168 hours a week of do what I want when I want to. I barely remember any of the people I worked with, about 3 times a week I see an Obit with a familar name. Then I think about all the people that were good friends that have passed, (it's several pages long now).

My days now are with no watch, no concern for time at all. Get up with the sun, check the financial news, then check the world news, put the dogs and the wife in the car and go to the park to walk 3 miles every day. After the walk, get on the computer and see whats posted on several of the forums that I go back and forth on.

Damn, sun is going down, need to get ready for bed.
 
Beautiful post.

You are well-poised to enjoy an fulfilling and exciting retirement! How many of our nation's retirees can fly, I ask!

Terry said:
This is my thoughts as I retire July 31, 2012. After reading Aunt Peggy's thread about being locked out and the Flame wars, I started reflecting on this board and the give and take that moves through the board. Enjoy.


Entering The Autumn Of My Life​
I knew it was coming a few years ago. I gave up fighting the waist line and playing basketball and sports in general. It wasn’t so much the physical stress that affected me as much as the mental stress. I was not ready for the mental slow down.

I turned 65 without much fan fare but a nice birthday party and good fellowship with friends and my wife of 40 years. My, how the time has flown by. Seems like only yesterday I was at the top of my game. I showed others how to succeed and taught others how to live life to the fullest. Now, I am being shown, very graciously by others, how to sit back and let someone else take control of the situation and life’s challenges.

I sit in amazement at the computers and applications that I see interact effortlessly with the younger generation while I struggle with email and face-book and all of the smart phones. I recall, much to the younger generation’s chagrin, how I made it through life without any of these fancy gadgets, but deep inside, wish I could handle the information age with as much ease as they do.

I am forced, by my physical limitations and also my mental limitations, to stand down while my mind still tries to handle situations like I did 40 years ago. Am I ready to give up? No way!

I am ready to enter a new phase in my life. It requires walking away from all of the electronic gadgets and life style that I have grown dependent on. It requires walking toward my children, grandchildren, and wife to re-discover the fun filled weekends, the evening games, the holding of hands, and the enjoyment I get when I just stay close to her. After all, she is the one who gave me meaning and direction when I met her. We have raised her 3 children, adopted 4 more, and fostered several more. What a fulfillment I have received from marrying her.

All of my life was planned to work toward retirement. Now, slowing down has to be planned as well. I have a fear of becoming not needed. Not a big fear but somewhat a fear of being left out. I watched as my parents aged and then passed on. I watched as Robert, and Mary, my in-laws, who were so vibrant and independent, slowly wind their life down in a nursing home. How many times I prayed they would pass on without the indignity of nursing home care that is inevitable.

So, the problem is learning to stay busy and focused with purpose. I must adapt and change over to a different mindset and mental strategy. I must find purpose when it is not obvious, keep applying myself to things I can do and be good at.

I am good at building relationships because I have spent the last 40 years building relationships with friends and families. I am good at being a grandparent because I love kids and enjoy being around them. I am good at being a parent because no matter how old I get, they are still my children. I am good at loving life and enjoying the day. I am good at flying, since I haven’t crashed, fishing, picnics, and just having a good time. I am good at living.

When I think my retirement through, I am happy I have made it this far. I am looking forward to entering the autumn of my life. Winter is still some time away and I plan on enjoying this autumn to the fullest. I may be older and slower but I am more matured and have had more experience in having fun and enjoying life than my younger friends.

I think I will go and find the love of my life and see what mischief I can get into. Yes sir, I think this is one autumn I am looking forward to.

Terry
Click to expand...
 
Congrats Terry! Take a load off for all of us still on the daily grind - and tell us how great it is so we have motivation to follow you.
 
Nice post, your family is fortunate to have you.

I think you might find that you get busier than you think you will be... After the first few months
 
Enjoy.

I'm looking forward to the same things. Next April.
 
I retired in 2006, but started right into working again as an A&P. I did that long enough to get an IA, quit, got another job full time, quit, didn't do anything for a while, then landed the job that I have now. It just seems that I have to have a job for some reason. The job I have now is high enough on the food chain that I don't do any menial work and I get paid fairly well. I do a lot of standing around and talking. In fact, I'm expected to stand around and talk to people. I do have some responsibilities, but they are nothing that I would "take home" with me. When I walk out the gate I'm done, and I don't have to think about work until I go back. I was hired by the director, and was sent by her to work for two other guys. So I have two supervisors. They don't say much to me, and for the most part, there isn't any reason for them to say much to me. There aren't huge expectations here. I think that the best part of being retired, then working again, is that I'm not afraid of loosing my job, and my bosses are afraid that I'm going to quit. That is a great work environment.
 
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