Rest in Retirement? Not So Much!

I’ve had any number of conversations with folks about the five years (in June) of our retirement. Some wonder what we are “doing with ourselves.” Others who have followed these years more closely wonder “how the heck we manage our schedules.” Some envy us our freedom; others aren’t sure what they would do with themselves if they retired. I distinctly remember someone saying: “How can you walk away from the excitement you’ve known? Retirement will surely be dull.”

Truth is, we didn’t know in advance quite what to expect. What we’ve found is more joy than we might have anticipated. None of our pleasure is about not working, really. It’s actually about pursuing a myriad of activities that we simply didn’t have much time for when we were primarily engaged in our careers. As much as anything, it’s about freedom of choice.

Learning is a key to life these days. Now a day might include long stretches of reading, including real books with pages, as well as internet resources. We got smart phones because it seemed that every conversation in motion made us want to look something up, so now we are forever checking names and dates, history and geography as we’re driving through the countryside.

We’ve wandered around the world, too. In five years we’ve been to China, Australia and New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, Canada and roamed these United States widely. We were lucky enough to travel a lot even while we were working, but these more recent trips have been longer and farther afield to places we had dreamed about, but weren’t sure we would ever see. What once seemed impossible did, in fact, become possible with more time to plan and enjoy. In the process, we’ve met terrific people from all over, good people who have enriched our knowledge of the world and reassured us about the wonders of humankind.

We have volunteered, spending time on birds and conservation, education and job connection and even a flowering bridge!  We've knocked on doors to get people to go the polls and vote on election day.  We’ve each reconnected with our universities in different ways and I’ve been really proud to discover and participate in the amazing growth of Georgia State as an internationally-respected research institution.

We vowed to spend more time with family and friends and we’ve done that, happily spending weeks in Florida with my sister and traveling to enjoy time in Tennessee and Canada with other family members. We’ve been able to reach out to those who needed us in times of illness and sorrow and appreciated the opportunity to support them in ways that would not have been possible when time was so limited. We’ve deepened friendships and made new ones, having time to strengthen Lake Lure friendships as we spend more time there.

Most of all, and perhaps best, has been how we’ve learned so much about the world and about ourselves. We’ve had challenges to face and found that we could meet them and move through them, grateful again for the benefits accrued from association with a world-class employer and a wise financial counselor.

Now we are anticipating the next five years, breaking ground for a new home and an exciting collaboration with our children who are building next door. We look forward to what’s ahead, knowing no more about what will happen than we knew when we retired in 2007, but sure that it will be anything but dull.