OK, I’ve reached an age where my friends are starting to retire. Not just my OLD friends, regular friends. Most of my retiring friends are a few years older than me, but not by much.
Retiring – wow what a concept! I ain’t been there yet, but the mind wobbles at the implications. Like most people I know, I have been working since my teens. And I’ve been lucky – I’ve rarely hated my job. But like a rental horse smelling the barn, the notion of not having to work anymore is tantalizing, to say the least.
Make no mistake – I have no sweet pension waiting for me. I’ve been much more of a grasshopper than an ant. When I can retire, I will probably have to generate some sort of semi-regular income. Did I just describe the music business? I think I did!
I’ve never had the talent, the luck, or the drive to be a lifelong professional musician. And with the relative wisdom of my current age, I know I made the right decision. By sublimating (burying? forsaking?) my dream of being a professional musician, I have had a decent career – raised 3 kids in upper-middle class comfort, and enjoyed some very good times (grasshopper, remember?)
But what will happen when my home is paid off and the pressure of the mortgage is no longer the driving burn rate of my life? What if I had the freedom to take every gig I could get? How would I fare?
How much more fulfilling would my life be if the focus was just family and music?
Frankly, the answers aren’t at my fingertips, for a number of reasons. What if my health declines or I sustain an injury that makes playing music no longer an option? What if the nest egg I have accumulated runs out and I’m stuck eating Alpo?
I think for almost everyone, the notion of retirement is a lot of not-quite-knowable questions. There’s the question of money, and even if that seems to lined up, health concerns can throw a wrench in all those dreams.
Some professions have a startling post-retirement mortality rate. I feel lucky that I have a “hobby” that excites my passions. I have never identified myself by my “day job”. I don’t think I’ll wonder what to do with myself when I retire. I’m looking forward to the challenges that await me, when I feel I can step away from my long “working” life.
I have the utmost respect, admiration, and envy for my friends who have retired from their “day jobs”. I see the fun stuff they’re doing in the first days of their retirement – the travel, the project around home, time spent with family, and so forth. I hope their contentment grows with each passing day, and year. And I look forward to time when I can join them.
I know this though: I won’t be bored.
