RETIREMENT ???

I worked until I was 77 years old. People would regularly ask me "Why are you still working?" My response was always, "Because I want to." After that response they would usually say something like, "You should be relaxing in Hawaii with a large lemonade and a small blonde." Or is it the other way around? I've forgotten. Besides Joyce would object to the large lemonade. With regards to the small blonde, she would say, "Dogs chase cars...but they can't drive."

Some people really look forward to retirement. That's fine. They want to pursue other interests and adjust their lifestyle. Others, like me, would prefer to stay in the workforce for a variety of reasons.

If you look in Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary you will read:

Retirement: "The act of retreating, a secluded place, an act of retiring."
Retire: "to go away or withdraw. to withdraw oneself from business, public life, or active service."
Retired: "Withdrawn from public view. Solitary. Secluded.
Retiring: "Shy. Modest. Reserved. Unobtrusive.

I don't really fit those definitions.

When the retirement age and Social Security established the age of 65 as the retirement age, you must remember in 1933 that was the life expectancy of a male human. Things have changed. People are living longer and healthier than 80 years ago.

Why are so many people working past the age of 65? The reasons vary. Some find a need to work for financial reasons. Others work for a desire of a particular lifestyle. Some have retired and find that is is not as idealistic as planned. Some desire activities of new social interaction.

The Swedish Nightingale, Jenny Lind, made a great success as an operatic singer, and money poured into her purse. Yet she left the stage when singing her best and never went back to it. She must have missed the money, the fame, and the applause of thousands, but she was content to retire and live in privacy.

Once an English friend found her sitting on the steps of a bath house on the sea sands with a bible on her knee, looking out into the glory of the sunset.

They talked and the conversation drew to the inevitable question. "Oh Madame Goldschmidt (her real name), how is it that you came to abandon the stage at the very height of your success?"

"When everyday", was the quiet answer, "it made me think less of this (laying a finger on her bible) and nothing at all of that (pointing to the sunset), what else could I do?"

Yes. there are reasons to retire but there are compelling reasons to keep working. It's an individual thing. Me? I loved working as long as I was able.