August 27, 2022
People my age spend a fair amount of quality time wondering when is the right time to retire and what the hell will we do with ourselves, day after day?
Last Thursday, up on Christopher Creek, I got a sneak peek inside the dark side of this age specific dilemma.
After the daily rain shower, Uno and I walked from our cabin down to The Landmark Restaurant to get some takeout. Uno especially liked the sign in front of the outdoor dining area and insisted I take his picture.
There were maybe a dozen customers, some inside (they have a garage door deal along the north wall and when it's open, even the inside diners are looking out on the patio).
Walking in, Uno and I encountered this gregarious guy sitting at a table, along the fence, smoking and nursing a beer. He seemed unusually friendly and I chalked it up to local custom and/or mood altering drugs.
After I made an order to go, Mr. Gregarious waltzed over to our picnic table. He told me his name was Tom and he wanted to know if he could sit down and chat. Sure—Be my guest—was my wary response (what the hell is he selling?). In short order he told me he made a nice profit on his house in Tucson, bought a travel trailer and came up here when his wife OD'd on oxycontin and his girlfriend left him and he's thinking about getting a job as a greeter at Costco, saying he needs structure and he's going crazy. Oh, and he has even considered ending his life.
What do you say to that? Well, what I said was Maybe you should get some help, but what I said to myself was, Thank God my wife is a therapist!
He soon got tired of my empty banter and went to the next table to spill his guts all over again and perhaps not feel so lonely? Whatever the hell he was actually doing, it was a wake up call for me.
We all need structure in our lives, or we'll end up like Tom.
"The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off."
—Abe Lemons
I think most of us discovered just how boring retirement can be when Covid hit, and our workplaces were closed. I know I did, I was bored to death. I think you were spared because you still had the magazine to run, and your artwork. Now I tell anyone who's very active and is considering retiring early - Don't !
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