2021 – Save the Retirement Date!
Yes, we retired but…
We don’t want to have a do-nothing retirement. It doesn’t sound like much fun. We just want to get rid of the daily responsibility of work, maintaining a big house, fighting traffic and the like. When all of this goes away, we will be free! All the stress of juggling and scheduling, problem solving, technology challenges (!) will be replaced with simpler days and lots of adventure.
A whole new world is out there…not just in travel but in the everyday things we do. We will simply be replacing the old things we used to do with new things we can discover and do. It will be a continuation of our lives in another direction. The last time I went to the movies in the middle of the day was when I was sixteen; we inquired about joining a bowling league at our church, but they start on 9:00pm on a Wednesday night – not good for us when we get up at 6:00am and go off to work! These two activities will be just like dating all over again – can’t wait till I tell Zaf!
Our goal is to spend the first six months or so living and traveling in Greece as well as other parts of Europe and the Middle East. When we get back home, we will settle into our new home – which by the way we have no idea where it will be as of right now!
One of my big projects I am planning is to sort all the photographs I’ve collected over my lifetime, as well as my mother’s and my aunt’s. Looking through them, I reminisce, I cry, I laugh – I explain to Zaf what was going on when the picture was taken and who everyone is, as he rolls his eyes…because he has heard the stories a few times before! But for me the pictures and the stories (for both of us!) are the badges of how far we have come…and making the plans to get out into the world is the pathway to how far we still have to go.
As I post our retirement activities – and may there be many – traveling, cooking, dancing, bowling, etc. I want to look back at them one day and say “what happened to retirement?!!!” We will retire from work, but not from life!
And in life, you just never know what can happen, so we must be eager, energized and excited! We will become explorers!
We are on it!
Helene
Sedona, Arizona photograph from the Personal Collection of Helene and Zaf
Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to get the latest info on Retirement Explored.com.