All too frequently we "wait" our lives away, postponing living fully until everything is just right. Many times saying "Oh, I can wait. I'll do that when the kids are grown or when I retire..." My choices were to live a little and enjoy life a little, just in case I don't live to see retirement. The forked longevity branch of my family tree indicates odds of becoming a centenarian are likely OR barely making it to retirement, not much middle ground.
I stumbled upon that philosophy while working in data processing for the Pension Group of Prudential (Pru) Insurance while in graduate school for what I thought was a summer job. My programming efforts supported actuaries in gathering data and modeling it for pension contracts and monitoring proof of mathematical concept. Translation: actuarial models proved the potential retiree would kick the bucket or beat the odds so Pru was gonna have to pay up and not make a profit on the pension contract. Pru was stacking the deckand fixing pricing just like the casinos in Las Vegas!
Back then, the statistical models showed the average employee only lived 18 months in retirement IF they lived to retire. Well that was one helluva an eye opener which made me pack some living into my own life. I bought myself a Christian Dior gold watch in lieu of receiving one at retirement, making sure to enjoy life and smell the roses along the way when I could. Season theater tickets, road trips, long weekends, and chunks of extended vacation time have permitted a month in the Hawaiian Islands, another sailing the Caribbean, and another exploring California and it's wineries.
Shorter adventures included summer weekends in The Hamptons, sailing the Chesapeake and The Sound, Mom & Son road trips across the United States, cruises in the eastern and western Caribbean, and the veritable family treks to Disneyland and annual visits to our Disney World timeshare; some for family reunions and others just to escape reality. Many adventures before, during, after getting married and having kids.
Reading and exploring social media have ingnited inward journeys. Now, I'm cooling my jets as the US economy burps and farts it's way to making sure retirement isn't an option. Consulting contracts for the past year have been slim. It's a long haul to pension-eligible age 65 to collect from the telecommunications company where I spent the bulk of my work life. Thanks to Papa for keeping his foot in my arse to work toward pension vesting and save for retirement and Mom's reminders that timing is rarely ever perfect. Those thoughts have kept me afloat as I continue to smell the roses.
Truthfully the way this is all shaking out, I'd be really ticked to have sacrificed living fully, waiting for a retirement OR the Social Security check that may never materialize.
Psst... Twitter pals introduced me to more TV shows than I ever imagined existed! Who knew? :)
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