Member-only story
I’ll Never Retire — And I Love That Idea
My Dream Life Still Stretches Out Ahead of Me
I remember the whole time I was growing up, my grandmother was retired.
I remember my dad really looking forward to retiring.
I remember my mom choosing to retire a few years early because: grandkids.
But then I remember my father-in-law retiring and basically having nothing to do. He spent most of his time in his apartment because he didn’t golf or volunteer; he didn’t have a specific hobby, and he didn’t enjoy travel.
Nope. Nope, nope.
The other things I saw varied. My grandmother traveled to Florida every winter, lived in a condo, and golfed to her heart’s content for several years into her retirement. Eventually, arthritis got the best of her and she remained living in the same home she had lived in for her entire married life, until she could no longer live there, and finished things out by living a few months in a nursing home — literally, like four months. I’d like to think she was pretty much unaware of those months.
My dad was a super hardworking, barrel-chested Irishman who had saved up early three years worth of vacation and sick time, figuring he’d just get the paycheck at the end, and was looking to retire within a year or so, but then dropped dead in his office…
