Retirement is Dead, and I’m Still Alive

To many, early on it seems retirement is a big deal. Who isn't programmed to plan for retirement before starting their professional life journies? For me, though, retirement is dead and I'm still alive.

Little did I know, I was well on my way to showing my dad how to "#retire" a lot sooner than govt retirement age. Only problem is he actually "#retired." My dad was 56 when he died.

I have recently and unknowingly been making a sort of mockery of that word, retired. Having stopped doing what I was doing professionally after 23 years, I called myself #retired, but I was still breathing. I'm not really retired, more like in a hiatus.

After selling my life in the city, I moved to my "beach house" on a middle of nowhere cow farm. I am living the picturesque #retirement dream. This place is the shit, literally! I've lost touch with the rest of the world with the exception of this blog and a few social media outlets.

In my early 20s, wow, I recall hearing so many people tell about their dreams of one day doing this, or wishing they could do that. As a result, when I was 26, I started doing custom woodworking, custom cabinetry, buying big toys, playing in the dirt again, etc. I was pretty doing someone else's retirement dreams with my life. My own dreams and desires are mixed in, to, but mostly it seems like everything someone said they wanted to do for retirement, I did it. I guess I never really had that real job and the hopeful opportunity of one last day and a going away party.

I did have to get a "real" job in 2009/2010 because of that depression we all ecomonicly experienced, but all in all I was still doing someone else's retirement work lifestyle. I remember going to an insurance subrogation company to get a job because, looking back, I must've thought I was "tired" of living that income producing hobby dream life. What the heck was I thinking. Thankfully, they never called me back, must've known I wouldn't last there very long.

Anyway, I sometimes wonder what it may have been like to live a more structured and organized kind of lifestyle. By that I mean one that included a more permanent "real" job with weekends of and an annual vacation with the family reunion, Disney Animal Abuse Park, and all. I did take my kids to see the trapped orcas. I guess because that was the thing to do.

Retired? You mean, bored to death in my leather chair and cinema-sized TV? Well, the silence sure has been speaking pretty loudly lately. Did you know I have a few blogs nobody reads? I stopped contributing to that. At least I still have two of the three of those.

I've had the opportunity over the last four years to live the RV lifestyle. Had a mini RV in a big truck that was also an income producer. We were mostly limited to truck stops and rest areas. Sometimes we paid for parking. Sometimes we ventured out and found better places. Sometimes we parked in secure places. Sometimes we found a place campgrounds, a lakeside, or another nice place. Never Walmart or an RV park yet, imagine that.

So, yeah, there you have it. My dad was my dad. Even in his absence from my life, I was still being my dad's son. So then, if I only had seven years left to live, what WILL I do with them? I've already begun. Either come with me, or go without me, your choice. As for me, I'm not dead yet. As for you, to whom it concerns, if you're still breathing, you're not dead yet. I mean, you're not retired yet.