Friday, May 18, 2007
This morning, Henry asked me how old I would be on my next birthday. When I told him 42, he said “whoa, that’s a lot”. I laughed because I guess he is right in a lot of ways.
I’ve never really feared death. When I was in my 20s, I just wanted to get to 30. When that happened, I wanted to get to 40. Now that’s here and gone but I have a much different take on it now. I want to get to an age where my kids are old and wise. I want them to grow up with an active and loving father like both Sarah and I had. I just can’t imagine not being around when Henry and Jack are growing up. So now I’ve pushed that date I want to reach to 60. I’ll worry about 70 at that point.
And I guess I want to enjoy some of the money I’ve socked away over the years. Right now I’m looking to retire at age 65 but that is all dependent on a million things. I could leave a lot earlier but it depends on things out of my control like the stock market. And college costs. And just what Sarah will be doing; our age difference makes things a bit interesting here although I’m sure she would like to retire at 50, who wouldn’t?
But I’m not really sure what retirement would mean for me. The usual travel, golf, relax all sounds nice but it almost seems as if there should be a goal of some kind when I get there. I’ve always wanted to sail, if not around the world, at least to warm weather spots when it’s cold in Ohio. But Ohio, is that where retirement leads? Seems like there are warmer places that might be better suited to my hobbies. Especially if it involves a sailboat. I guess living in Key West or sailing the Caribbean during the winter and having a place somewhere north wouldn’t be a bad life. I can live the Jimmy Buffet life. I might even start thinking about 80 years old.
I’ve never really feared death. When I was in my 20s, I just wanted to get to 30. When that happened, I wanted to get to 40. Now that’s here and gone but I have a much different take on it now. I want to get to an age where my kids are old and wise. I want them to grow up with an active and loving father like both Sarah and I had. I just can’t imagine not being around when Henry and Jack are growing up. So now I’ve pushed that date I want to reach to 60. I’ll worry about 70 at that point.
And I guess I want to enjoy some of the money I’ve socked away over the years. Right now I’m looking to retire at age 65 but that is all dependent on a million things. I could leave a lot earlier but it depends on things out of my control like the stock market. And college costs. And just what Sarah will be doing; our age difference makes things a bit interesting here although I’m sure she would like to retire at 50, who wouldn’t?
But I’m not really sure what retirement would mean for me. The usual travel, golf, relax all sounds nice but it almost seems as if there should be a goal of some kind when I get there. I’ve always wanted to sail, if not around the world, at least to warm weather spots when it’s cold in Ohio. But Ohio, is that where retirement leads? Seems like there are warmer places that might be better suited to my hobbies. Especially if it involves a sailboat. I guess living in Key West or sailing the Caribbean during the winter and having a place somewhere north wouldn’t be a bad life. I can live the Jimmy Buffet life. I might even start thinking about 80 years old.
