In 2015, my wife and I retired... I am not sure how many years she had worked, but I had worked 45. For five more years, I continued to work part-time as an adjunct professor teaching businesses classes at a university in Knoxville.
During those first five years, my wife and I traveled all the time, leaving our cats for 7-10 days at a time every other month. We took cruises, flew to Europe, Canada, Hawaii, and Los Vegas. When we weren't on cruises or flying Delta, we drove our vehicle... sometimes the destination took 4-6 hours, sometimes it took 10-12 hours.
What we learned after those five years was that... number one, we were tired of traveling and number two, we never wore all the clothes we packed.
No matter where we went or how often, we always went to Myrtle Beach twice in the summer. Once around May/June and again around September/October.
I know several people, including members of my immediate family who will never retire as they have opportunities where they can mix business and pleasure... and, while that is fine for them, I have no desire to continue working and see how much money I can earn and save. I have saved enough money to take care of our needs until we are both 95 years old. I don't need anymore money than that.
Our children, from previous marriages, have already indicated that they do not need us to set aside money for an inheritance, as they are already planning for their retirement. There will be a substantial amount of money left to them but they are not expecting it and don't need it.
Being retired, does not mean that you do nothing each day. It just means that you don't have to shave every day, wear a shirt and tie every day, and can take a week to complete a task that would have taken you a day.
My retirement comes with the statement that my wife is no longer cooking and if I want to eat I have to cook my own meals. If I am cooking my own meals than I have to do my own cleaning up as well. I did not mind hearing that from her, as I feel she is under no obligation to cook. I am not a great cook, but after 8 years, I have only thrown away two pots of food that were not tasty.
When I am not cooking, I am maintaining two blogs and when not working on my blogs, I am writing novels. The main concern here is that I am staying busy. I watch the news in the morning until about 10am or so and very little television after that. I prefer to watch series rather than stand alone hour dramas and find that the BBC series is always better than any American series. It is a combination of acting and directing, I suppose.
From time to time, I may share some of my travels with you and/or my cooking. When I cook, I usually make enough for 2-3 meals so I am not cooking everyday.
Be Safe and enjoy your freedoms, especially your freedom of speech... don't let the government or anyone else censor your opinions.
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