Waking Up Retired

Today is March 17, 2016, and I woke up at 4:30 a.m., retired. This is a Thursday, but for someone retired, every day is Saturday. Well, Sunday is still Sunday, but you know what I mean. When you are retired, you determine how to live each day. There is no employer to support. I retired on December 31, 2015, so this morning begins the seventy-seventh day of my retirement. That’s kind of lucky for me. I have experienced some of the best moments and events of my life in days and years ending in seven. Also, today is Saint Patrick’s Day.

I woke up early because my wife’s alarm clock went off at that time. She has not retired from her job. You will likely work for another four years or so, to reach the minimum age at which you can take out your retirement savings without paying a tax penalty. Retirement experts and friends advised me on two topics in the last six months of my employment. The first issue focused on his opinion that I might retire too soon. Most experts say that one should fear surviving retirement savings. One way to minimize that risk is to work longer. That way, you will have earned and saved more, plus you will die sooner, which means that you did not outlive your savings after all. I thought it was a weak argument at a stupid point then, and I have that opinion this morning as well.

The second topic concerned my retirement before my wife could retire. They warned me that this could cause friction in my marriage. My wife could be jealous. She might be embarrassed to tell her friends that her husband was now a “Gentleman of Leisure” while she enslaved at work. Well, those people don’t know my wife. Seventy-seven days after my retirement, she continues to behave as my wife behaves. Today I take care of family finances as I did when I worked. If retirement occurs, and you I have not plannedYou can become unhappy while you are retired. If you plan it, then you retire on your own terms. So retirement becomes another phase of your life. Very good things have happened to me since I retired.

My youngest son, now an adult, got married and moved out of our house. As you may have guessed, I like to write. I write and publish an article like this almost every day. I also write two to five pages a day in my next novel. I wrote and published three novels while working for someone else. It was necessary for me to change the focus of my day from the way I was forced to spend it while employed. But, that was fun, and now I can easily make changes to my schedule. For me, a day spent as a retiree is lived almost as fast as a structured day at work, because I plan it.

I set goals for myself to work during retirement. Some lead to achievement and others will last as long as I do. I wanted to improve my health with exercise and healthy eating, communicate and help the extended family, be more active in support of God’s will, write every day, read every day, spend more time with friends, to seek and share the knowledge that I have as a mentor for others, to help my wife do some things about the house that I would have otherwise done, to be more informed about the investments and the investment schedule, and to plan to travel more frequently.

My routine today is typical and supports my goals. I anticipate my wife’s early hours and go to bed early the night before. That way, I have a good night’s sleep. Right after I get up, I write and publish the article for that day, while enjoying a cup of coffee. If you still have energy, I will write a few pages of the novel, and otherwise I will complete my writing goal by 10:00 a.m. About that time is when I will travel to Walmart, Lowes, the Credit Union, and possibly somewhere else on a single morning trip, as long as there are fewer people on the road and in stores. I do this on a day when stores offer a special discount for seniors. When I return home, I exercise for 1.5 hours, including a 45-minute walk around my neighborhood, or use the treadmill if it’s raining. I call a family member or friend while I walk.

I have maintained regular contact with friends who have similar interests to mine. Some live locally and others live one or two states away. I learn, share knowledge, enjoy conversation, and sometimes actively participate in an activity with one or more friends several times a week. We discussed the stock market, ideas on how to advance the word of Jesus through studying the Bible and helping new Christian churches. I take five-mile local walks with some local friends. I plan to hike parts of the Appalachian Trail with four separate people. That way, if someone can’t go, at least one, somewhere, they can probably walk with me. I play two different video games: I’m hooked on World of warships Y Empire. I don’t play more than one game a day, late in the day, as a gift to myself for achieving goals earlier in the day. I’ve started experimenting with cooking, to include hosting an oyster roast and other cooking events that have mostly used my charcoal grill. My wife and I are planning trips, one to Yosemite National Park and the other to Cancun.

What’s up today? Today, in the middle of a Thursday, I will be sailing through the Lower Chesapeake Bay with a friend who owns a cabin sailboat. He grew up near water and just loves being there. His life’s ambition was to acquire a sailboat, and at first, family and friends wanted to go sailing with him in the blink of an eye. But, after a few years, he rarely accepts his offer to sail, except with me. Every time you ask, my answer is: “Sure!”

Starting at noon today, he and I will sail for about five hours. Since it’s St. Patrick’s Day, we’ll have a small load of Corned Beef and Guinness Extra Stout sandwiches on board. Now that I have become a competent sailor, my friend has started conspiring with me to sail his boat to Bermuda and back. Now, You tell me, Is waking up retired fun or what?

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