Quote:
Originally Posted by olddog
Unfortunately that thought has already crossed my mind, but I have be trying to find a way to have a life after retirement and still share it with my wife. Otherwise I might as well continue to work.
I have worked all my life. I started cutting grass for a neighbor at the age of 10. Started bailing hay at 13. Worked at an apple orchard the summer and fall, I was 16. Finished the year pumping gas. Carried dry wall on the week ends and put in swimming pools when I wasn't carrying drywall, while working 48 hrs a week at the gas station my last two years of high school. I went to work for a chemical company shortly after. Most of those 41 years, I worked 300-400 hr of overtime a year.
So here I am looking at the end of working. It's all I have ever known, but I am tired of it. However it is very sobering and unnerving. There is much more I would like to finish before I retire, but I know there will always be more to do. I loved my job, most of the time and few people were ever that fortunate. It is tough to give it all up. I have attended too many funerals of people who never got to retire, so I do not want to work too long. Yes I am conflicted with many feelings.
I likely will never have grandchildren. I have plenty of money to live on. The only reason I am working is the medical insurance. Unfortunately, my wife's health leaves her unable to do much. I have already worked past the time that she could have enjoyed it. It is too late for her, and I feel quite guilty for that, even though I know it is not my fault. So yes maybe I am grasping at straws.
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Olddog,
I too started mowing neighbors yards at 10 and as soon as I turned 14 got my working papers and worked all of the way through high school and then college. Towards the end of my career I took on a second job as well. Got my first cobra after the kids were out of high school. Retired from my main job and worked the very next day at my second job, which I have continued. Was not ready to just sit home, was just tired of going to my primary place of employment.
It sounds like you are in a tough situation and my only suggestion to you would be to find something of interest to keep you occupied. While you said that you know people who never got to see retirement, i also know of people who never enjoyed retirement because they did not know what to do and just sat on the couch all day till they died. You have a couple of years to prepare yourself for retirement, find something that makes you happy.