The Weekend Is Over

The one thing that I didn’t count on is that with every day being Saturday, why am I so tired every Saturday? Is it because every night is Friday night? Just kidding! My husband and I really have enjoyed my 7 years of retirement and his 11 years.

We keep busy, and sometimes too darn busy. The hubby has a large yard to care for, and he changes the oil and does minor repairs on all of our vehicles, motorcycles, 4-wheelers, snowmobile, lawnmowers, and snowblowers.

Living his dream is what he talks about doing, and he is so grateful to have had these years doing just that. I have continued to work part-time and love it. Very few early morning appointments and very few late in the day appointments. Now we are on to planning the next chapter.

We are considering a contract for deed for our property with the ability to continue living here much of the year. How will that work? We have a campsite area that we would continue to use. That would pass back to the contract for deed person as soon as we pass.

That way we could live elsewhere for the coldest months. I have a brother in Texas, a niece in New Mexico and friends and family in Arizona. We are just now having the discussions. We are not really sure what we plan to do. It does seem like it is time to do some planning.

The in-laws lived in Texas for many winters at the end of their life. Until they could not. Many people die too soon after they retire to have this problem. We are grateful that isn’t us. Yet at our age, you never know what will slow you down.

I am lucky enough to continue to work. I left working full-time at 62 to retire as I had cancer that I was told was treatable, probably not curable. When you hear that, it feels like a death sentence, and it may still be. My plans for retirement changed some.

I thought I would be living in a cabin that the hubby and I made. Once there was cancer I could care less where we lived. Hubby was just glad to have the years we have had together and to be able to do all the things he does.

We had time helping his parents before they died in their late 80s. He had time to spend with his brother who had cancer and died from dementia more recently. I could spend time with a brother that died from covid a few years back.

Retirement is important for all of us. Do I regret not working until 66/67. No. As you age how time flies. It was just Friday when I started to write this and now the weekend is over! I think around 50 we should be cut back to 32-hour work weeks. Age fifty-five could be another cut back to 28 hours.

The pay and benefits should stay the same.

Then, by the time we retire we will have more years to live out our days. Or maybe it won’t be so bad to work longer if we aren’t killing ourselves working. Not the labor but the stress of trying to do it all.

When will someone decide that this makes sense? I know they are working on cutting social security that we have added to our entire work life, as do the employers we work for. And they are changing the age of full retirement.

I didn’t see working past 62 for me! There wasn’t enough of an incentive to wait for 66/67.

I would change this if I were in charge of anything in this world. It makes sense to me. I know that my sense doesn’t work for many. How would we pay for all of that, would be one of the questions. Why shouldn’t people get to take out a part of what they put in is my question?

At my age, I see too many people that don’t live very long in retirement. So far, that isn’t us. We will live as long as we can and do what we want until the end of our lives. Every day will continue to be Saturday and every night will continue to be Friday night.