When you’re young and just starting out you don’t think about retirement. That’s for old people and many years away from your right now reality.  I used to believe I’d worry about it in 20 or 30 years and I was super confident back then everything would eventually turn out OK.  When you’re young, everything is idyllic, even your inevitable withdrawal from work.  Well, here I am, two or three decades from those first thoughts and on Labor Day ironically all I can contemplate is retiring.

Some of my friends and family members are already retired. The big joke of retired folk is a cliché, “I guess I’ll take today off” they say.  It’s like a fantasy coming true when all of sudden it hits you that you could really be taking every day off for the rest of your life. For someone like me, this is going to hit particularly hard. I’ve always been a hard worker, I’ve mostly enjoyed working and I’m someone who has identified personal success with work success. What if that is soon gone?

Oh, realistically I’m still probably about 10 years away from finally hanging it all up but my dear wife is talking about it seriously in like 4 years when she’ll have completed 35 years as High School Counselor extraordinaire. So, then what will she do? She’s got it all planned out to work in a local Oregon winery and pour wine. Sounds fantastic.  For her.

I remember when her father retired. It was a monumental event after all his years providing for his family. In retirement, he kept to a routine and left each morning like he was going to work but instead would visit his old buddies, drink coffee, and B.S. with them while they were still working.  He came back home by noon to a hearty lunch, an hour-long nap, and a cocktail or two promptly at 7:00 pm every night, dinner than bed at 10:00 pm.  He treated each day like he never stopped working.  It was to me, his young naïve son-in-law, a dream come true. He did this same thing, day after day, for 25 years until he died at 87 having lived a full life without regret or compromise.

They say a third of your life should be getting an education, a third working, and a third in retirement. I haven’t the foggiest idea what I’ll do with myself after my work life is over. I’ve been almost religious with my saving, so money shouldn’t be a problem unless of course the economy has a precipitous turn for the worse. I can’t possibly be the guy who just sits around counting the hours away until my last breath.  I never have been and never will be a guy who sits idle.  I also know I can’t be working forever, so I will have to do something in retirement!

I’ll exercise. I’ll travel. I’ll write. I’ll play baseball and golf.   I’ll drink wine.  I’ll read.  I’ll go to professional sporting events.  I’ll attend concerts.  I’ll even puddle around the house maybe even throwing away a thing or two from my past and doing the chores I probably should’ve done years ago. Still, I haven’t thought about retiring much before this weekend because despite all of the stress and late nights and cross-country moves, I’ve genuinely enjoyed working. My extended work family has been important to me. Sometimes, I can’t imagine not seeing some of my work friends perhaps ever again.  Silly me.  Getting all sentimental.

With social media, I’ll always have an opportunity to connect with work friends near and far. We’ll just not have the same ridiculous deadlines, average performance reviews, and wildly successful projects to keep us going. I’ll spend more time with my wife and my dog and my retired friends who live nearby. I don’t yet know if we’ll stay in Oregon or move back to my beloved San Francisco Bay Area. That’s another thing to think about. Where do I want to spend my last years of life?  No matter where it is, I will create a plan and execute like I always do.  For my dear wife, it will be a home with a view.  Ah, a view.

I just don’t want to ruminate about retirement any more.  I just want to get to work.