Are you ready for some.....retirement?

showmom858
Wed, 14 Dec 2016 15:30:40 +0000

My mom retired 16 years ago at 58 from a 35 year government job here in California with a good pension. My dad continued to work as a teacher for high school kids in the juvenile court system. My mom is very active and has a walking group she walks with 5 days a week. She also decided she wanted to learn to play bridge when retired so she does that twice a week. She also watches her 13 month old granddaughter 2 half days a week now along with volunteering at an elementary school reading program and quilting with a group at a local church. Her life has been full since retiring.

My dad retired 8 years ago, so my mom was well into her routine. She told him that when he retired he needed to find activities to keep busy because she wasn’t going to change what she was doing to accommodate him. My dad is not as active as my mom (he has some bad back issues), but he enjoys volunteering at the local humane society both working with dogs and in their thrift store as well as playing bridge a couple of times a week (only once with my mom!). They love to travel and spent 6 weeks last summer driving across the country and back. Next year they have 2 Hawaii trips planned as well as an Alaskan cruise and visiting my mom’s family for a month in the summer on the east coast. I look at them as a great example of how a couple can retire and be together, but also continue to do things on their own.