By Chuck Woodbury
FOUNDER AND PUBLISHER
Several weeks ago I wrote about my struggle with successfully retiring. As much as I try, I can’t seem to do it. In my essay I wrote about how I had concluded that a person cannot simply retire. There’s more to it:
“The thing about retiring is that you cannot JUST RETIRE. You have to RETIRE TO something — hopefully something you have always wanted to do but never had time. For many people, that’s RVing. For those who do not replace their work with something they love, retirement is just a pit stop on their journey to their final frontier.”
Go while you can
From Tom Hayes
My wife and I both retired in 2002 and bought a 34-foot Cardinal triple slide out trailer. A few weeks later we took off on our first of many RV trips. It was October in Ohio and the RV park was closing for the season. We had no plans of where to go next. One morning I got up early, drank my coffee and when my wife joined me I asked her if she would like to go to Florida. Three days later we left and were there for the next several weeks.
That same thing happened for many years until 2021. Sadly, my wife died after 21 days in ICU.
We would sometimes play the game of “Should we have worked longer and had more money?” Well, guess what? I am so glad we had those times together. I still have my truck and a 2016 Springdale trailer and sometimes I go out. But it’s not the same. Go while you can, because someday you can’t or it won’t matter.
My purpose is worthwhile
From Jim Schrankel
I turned 77 today. Today I am old. Not middle aged, not a senior citizen, not even a golden ager. Old. I look in the mirror and see a stranger looking back at me. The lines and creases, all earned, tell a tale of a life. As the years went by, I realized what I would not accomplish in this or any lifetime. Many regrets, but many joys as well. Decisions that didn’t end well, but didn’t scar too deeply. Goals set, but never reached; but progress of a sort nonetheless.
Bucket lists got kicked over, spilling the dreams of travel. But as I grow old, I think of my many friends that never got that opportunity whether on the battlefields, or bad luck, or the death that followed us back home. I look at the two dozen pill bottles necessary to keep me going and realize that years ago there were no such drugs and I have the choice to live.
What I leave behind, is no monument of industry, no words in books to be held dear, nor paintings to be galleried. The gift I leave behind is a combination of happenstance, of chance, of genetics and love. Truly a gift I alone cannot claim to give is a gathering of wonderful things that made my family. As I look upon my children, and the children of my children, I see that all of my purpose on this earth is worthwhile. They are good people, of good character. And that is all a man can hope for in his life.
Retired too early, but all ends well
From Larry Fuller
The year I turned 50, my company made me an offer that was hard to refuse. I started as a technician when I was 18 and made my way up the ladder to leading people. It was a difficult decision as by that time I loved working with a great team. But the money was very good, so I took it. Now, reflecting from this distant future, I should have stayed. It wasn’t a job; it was part of me. After a couple of false starts I met the owner of a small business with 5 employees who shared my values. He was fun to work with and 14 years later I was still enjoying it.
Change is part of life and he sold the company as part of his retirement plan. The new owner’s ethics did not match The Four Way Test and a month later I resigned.
A couple of years earlier we had purchased a motorhome. We hadn’t used it a lot up until then, so we started doing some traveling. We are not full-timers so I had a considerable amount of the “what am I going to do today?” time. One day my wife looked at me and said, “You need to find something to do.” She sent me to the RV inspection website and a few months later I had started a business as a certified inspector.
It’s not really a career as much as it is a hobby. I enjoy helping people with their RV buying decision and I can start and stop the business when traveling.
I will close by talking about our real passion and that is volunteering at owners club and national organization rallies. It’s fun (and sometimes work) but I get real satisfaction building a “from scratch” volunteer parking team and getting several hundred RVs parked safely. New friends are made every time we do it. We just finished 11 days volunteering at a 400 coach rally and after another couple of weeks in the Rockies we will head home.
Thank you, Chuck, for building RVtravel. I know you are proud of it. I hope you always have a passion for writing.
* * *
Thank you Tom, Jim and Larry! — CW
Read last week’s retirement essay.
* * *
If you have a story about your journey to your retirement, please email me at chuck (at) RVtravel.com and tell it to me. I’d love to include it in a future article.
##RVT1172
I’m at the cross roads at 67.
Im still working full time at a career that I love (teaching).
My wife says it’s time to retire. My question: is there anyone here that retired that regrets it?
I truly can’t decide. Any input would be helpful.
Bob – I was in your exact same position 5 years ago, and kept working because I loved it. Nothing really to “retire to”, as Chuck suggests, so why not just continue on? Well, what I didn’t take into account is the possibility of a major change in health, completely unexpected and never included in my decision analysis. In my case, a brain tumor. After successful surgery and a year later, I am doing fine now . . . but it was a real wake up call. Ask yourself if you had only one month or one year left to live, how would you spend that time and how would that affect your decision to retire?
Thanks for the insight! You’re right, nobody ever said “I wish I had spent more time at the office.”
Wow, Ken! How scary, but I’m glad you made it! Onward and upward, and best wishes for a long and healthy life! 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
Bob, there’s many definitions of retirement so to be clear – I stopped working at 58. I didn’t leave my great job for a part time or lesser job. I didn’t recreate workplace commitments to work for free, I stopped working and wish I had stopped sooner.
Your health and time remaining doesn’t increase with age. Why dedicate even more of those two things doing what you’ve done all your life because that’s all you’ve known?
I gave vows to my wife yet my job was priority over her, my health and my life for my entire adulthood. If you can afford to stop working, do it. The days that are passing are perishable.
Contrary to some, fear of going “to” nothing is a poor excuse to “do” nothing.
Thank you Vince! I think I’ll have plenty to do, and I’ll certainly not be working part-time. When I quit, I’ll quit.
I guess my father’s work ethic was ingrained in my character. He and my mother both went through The Great Depression. Maybe I just feel guilty for not working.
This is uncharted territory for me so I’m seeking input from those who have made the leap. You and everybody else I talk to say retire now. Thanks again!
You’re very welcome.
Working is like writing with your dominant hand and comes naturally. Your handwriting shows the years you’ve invested since your first crayon. You have every reason to be proud.
Not working is like writing with your other hand. At first, it’ll feel foreign, forced, less productive and slow.
Should you give up your dream of ambidexterity or feel guilty because you are learning to write with your other hand? Heck no, that takes talent!
If you apply the same persistence, eagerness and joy you had in kindergarten when you learned to write, retirement will bring its own unique challenges, frustrations and rewards but it beats missing the chance before the grave.
My dad retired on the first day he was eligible when he turned 60. He had always wanted to learn to fly and by the time he was 61 he had his license. He and my mom had plans to travel but never got the chance. A year later she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. As he took care of her his respite was going to the airport and watching them work on planes. One day and told her there was a wrecked plane he wanted to buy. She said “Ok when you buy the cemetery plots”. He came back a few hours later with the title to the plane and the deed to the plots. He hauled the plane to the yard and worked on it while taking care of her. He passed away at 85 on his way to work on planes.
When young, with my new wife and all we owned in our car, moved 1200 miles to a place unknown without any fear. When retirement came near, I was fearful, which was strange for having so much more life under my belt. I posted the following on my mirror to see every morning months before retirement. “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” MLK Jr. — “Sometimes we stare so long at the door that is closing that we see too late the one is open.” Alexander Graham Bell — “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you”. Psalm 32.8 It is still on my mirror 14 years later. No regrets.
absolutely not if you are doing something else you love. seeing the country is amazing.
theres online teaching jobs too.
I love this forum and reading these stories. I think it fosters a sense of community at a time when we, as Americans, most need it.
Really appreciate these heartfelt stories.
Appreciated these stories.
With 18 years of RVing (8 fulltime) we have “been there, done that” many times over. In 2009 we took a 4 month RV trip to Alaska. On a morning walk with my dog at a RV Park that next year, I talked with fellow about RVing and told him about our Alaska trip. He replied “Oh, my wife and I always talked about going to Alaska in all our years of RVing. Unfortunately we never made it. She died 6 months ago.
Like others that have posted here, don’t WAIT. Go places NOW, stop putting it off.
Thank you, Chuck! 🙂 Great stories! 🙂 Thanks to Tom, Jim, and Larry for sharing their stories with you, and to you for sharing them with us! There are similarities between theirs and that of others, including me. I hope that these varied stories are helpful as you navigate the days, weeks, months, and years ahead. I am sure that they will be helpful to readers, too! 🙂 Have a great week, safe travels, and safe stays! 🙂
I am not retired. I am seriously considering it, however, and these excellent articles (over the past several weeks) have been impactful. I seriously enjoy what I do, but I also realize that life is finite and there still is a chapter to be written. I thank you all for writing and in a few years I may add my own thoughts to this excellent series. Thank-you again
I’m really enjoying the articles in this new series! Some of the best articles I’ve read in a long time, made all the more relevant as I approach retirement in the next few years. Thanks to all who have contributed so far and also to those who will contribute in future articles. Awesome addition to RV Travel!!