Say what you will about silk neckties, satin bustiers, and the pleasures of four-hundred-thread- count sheets, there are few concepts more immediately seductive than this one: retirement. This past weekend, while I was visiting relatives (who gathered in gratifying numbers to meet my mother), one of them told me that he was planning to do so within the next six months. He did not, he hurried to add, mean this to say that he would be 'sitting on his duff' now, but fully expected to get another job shortly thereafter; nevertheless, he was going to retire.
This concept charmed me, even as my wife told him, correctly, 'you have no idea how my husband envies you at this moment'.
I retired once, around the turn of the century, when the company that I had worked at for twenty-plus years offered a generous early retirement package (and how pleased I am that the pension portions of that are still available, given the dismal performance of the stock market immediately thereafter). I took a year off, during which I spent a goodly amount of time with my mother's hospitalization, with exercising at a local gym, and with the renovation of our kitchen (overseeing, not doing: my home handyman skills are minimal). Nevertheless, I was retired, with no especial requirements laid upon me, and I liked it. I look forward with great anticipation to doing it again.
The trip was to Long Island, an extension of New York City (I'm never quite sure, but I don't think it's a legal portion of the city; simply an emotional one, heavily stocked with exurbanites living the American Dream -- and given all of the greenery, not seen in the city except for carefully maintained enclaves such as Central Park, I think that an apt description). We were only there for three days, but we saw all but two of my cousins (one has been missing and presumably living a life of crime, or close to it, for decades; the other dropped into invisibility on the abrupt death of his wife), as well as one distant cousin and my father's brother and his wife. And we took the time to drive to the far north end of the island, which is their wine region, picking up some ice wine on the way, and getting stuck in vacation traffic; apparently we were the only ones who did not know that Monday is when the vacation traffic returns from the Hamptons.
It was fun. And that seductive siren song still whispers in my mind.
4 comments:
Retirement. Hmmm. Must try that sometime.
Well, gotta go. Clients at the door.
Never retire, Stag, so long as you love what you do. Which, despite the experience of me and almost everyone I personally know, I still believe is possible. Just not likely.
So don't retire. It gives me something to believe in!
Sounds heavenly .. and resembles a little of what I do on a regular basis. ;) However, I'm afraid I have many years ahead of me to earn and pay taxes like the next poor soul. Darn!
Sounds like you had a wonderful time away, seeing family and enjoying Long Island. Any particular wine you really enjoyed and care to share about? (I'm always willing to experiment with our own wine making)
Oh and for fear of sounding like your parent, I won't scold you for not telling us you were heading out of town. Some of us worry when you don't post for more then four days! :P ;)
Worry about moi? Pshaw...
As for the wine, I'm not really all that knowledgeable about it. My wine expertise starts and ends, pretty much, at knowing that the sweet wines come in a long, thin bottle...and that price is not always a good indicator of taste. Oh, and that dipping the wine crackers in the spit bucket is tacky. In this case, we bought a bottle of ice wine from the Pinar vineyard, simply because we bought some ice wine a few years ago from a New York State Finger Lakes winery, and liked it.
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