Monday Morning Musings

Posted on May 25, 2015 under Monday Morning Musings with 2 comments

“Somewhere over the ( double ) rainbow”

“Today is the first day of the rest of your life.”

Charles Dederich

Sometime this coming Thursday, I will be homeless and jobless. Normally this would be considered a very bad thing and cause for some alarm. I can happily say that I will walk out two doors on the same day. I will be retiring and barring some natural disaster ( a second lightning strike?! ), our house will pass over to a young family putting down roots in our community. We couldn’t be any happier for them…or us!

Even though I am in the retirement planning business, I don’t like the word retirement or the concept in general. I believe the definition is being redefined right in front of our eyes. Most of us will not have the luxury of putting up our feet and living off our vast wealth. That’s not what I have been witnessing anyway. More and more people are transitioning from full time work to something less demanding. In some cases, they have decided to do something completely different while offering an employer an incredible array of transferable skills.

Not everyone has the privilege of leaving work on their own timetable but if you do, knowing when to pack it in is important. Some people actually think that they are indispensable and that their place of work could not possibly survive without them. Ahem. I have news for those people and have decided to write a story about “knowing when to hold them and when to fold them.” ( Thanks, K.R. ) The story is called “Best Before” ( as in, “best before date” ) and will be coming up shortly at Week45.

Every waking hour that hasn’t been spent at work, has been spent at the house doing the “big purge.” It is mind numbing how much stuff is amassed over 33 years and how time consuming it is to figure out what to do with it. Some of you have already “been there and done that, “ and the rest of you will face this some day. It is a Herculean chore. On Saturday, I was staring at several bottles of spirits and wine that have been gathering dust for some time. I sent a text to a buddy of mine offering him the whole shebang. When he didn’t respond in a nanosecond, I was tempted to call Curry’s, MacIsaac’s or the ER room at the hospital. I had to call him an hour later and issued him a failing grade for his poor response time.

Betty and I will be traveling to Sydney later in the week to meet up with our old neighbors from Ross Street. I am also doing a fundraiser at Belmac in Sydney with a percentage of book sales going to a scholarship fund for the late Emma van Nostrand. If you’re in the Sydney area on Friday the 29^th. stop in and see us at 70 Dodd Street.

Ok. It’s time to get back to some serious writing. While caressing her first coffee of the morning yesterday, Betty mentioned something about the keys to a happy marriage. Yes, we all know that a couple should never do dry wall together and that having a GPS in the car can save a marriage. But what are the other important things that keep a couple together through the good times and bad times? You’ll be surprised when you find out THE single most important thing to achieve marital bliss. Not sure what the title is yet but the theme is “A Guide to a Happy Marriage.” I’m sure the editor will find a title that’s much more appropriate!

Have a great week.

Advertisement