My Golden Years

This morning, I thought it would be good to reflect a bit on where I've been and where I am going in my life.

I decided to retire a few years back. I always thought that the day that work stops being enjoyable will be the day that I call it quits. My consulting business was beginning to tail off then, with only a few new projects coming my way, projects that weren't really that interesting to me. Many of the new projects were essentially 'repeats' of projects I done earlier or projects that I really didn't enjoy but that I simply did to maintain cash flow.

I was beginning to be much most interested in my hobbies, reading, woodworking, and nature photography. I had even started to renew my interest in travelling a bit, with trips to Vancouver Island and the Yukon. And, as always, I was getting more and more interested in cooking.

So, at one point, I started to withdraw from the business life, referring offers of new projects to my colleagues in the business and divesting myself of memberships on various committees. I concentrated on improvements to the Carman acreage.

Well, that all changed when I agreed to move back to Winnipeg and took up city life. Each life-style has its pros and cons. Certainly, city life is physically easier in many ways than country life. And, that's important, considering my age and health. I began to enjoy the easy access to shopping, entertainment, and restaurants. All went well for awhile. Then, there were some changes in my personal life that were difficult to cope with, for a time.

Now, everything is back on an even keel and I'm again enjoying my life in the city. I've really gotten back into my favourite hobby, nature photography. Margaret and I have a nice home, a couple of great dogs, and we share many good times together. We travel occasionally, we get out at least once a month to a fine restaurant, we attend many plays, concerts, and musical comedies. And, so important, we're in close and frequent contact with our families and friends.

The moral of this little story is that life is too short and too precious to be wasting it doing something you’d rather not be doing. Horace, the Roman lyric poet said it so well: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero or "seize the day, putting as little trust as possible in the future".