It is interesting to read all of the positive stories about retirement. As I reached my retirement date (end of 2019), I thought about it a lot and got a fair amount of advice. I noted that when the men of my parents' generation retired, they often found themselves adrift: their job/career seemed to define them and without that anchor they were lost. I have enough outside interests so that I never felt defined by my occupation. Therefore I felt that I could keep myself occupied and felling satisfied in retirement.
The beginning of this year, Marcia and I scratched a long time itch and spent a couple of months in ski country. We packed our stuff, the dog, and the cat into a pickup truck, drove out west, and spent 2 months living in an Airbnb in Salt Lake City. And skiing of course. Our winter was cut short by Covid, and we felt fortunate to get home without any mishaps. My plan all along was to spend a couple of months doing nothing after the winter, so we certainly checked that box... Now the thought is what to do once all of the restrictions of the pandemic ease up. We did have a lot of travel plans for the previous 7 months, and of course that went out the window. We had 3 out of town weddings that we were going to attend (including one to Alaska), a trip to Hungary that was scrapped, and a family trip to South Africa that was delayed for a year. Overall, we feel very fortunate to have a home and do not worry about finances.
The long term plan from here is in flux. Volunteering always sounds good, but at this point I find it difficult to commit to any kind of schedule. I did feel a certain amount of melancholy leaving my career. After 40 years of doing something fairly well, there is a certain amount of sadness that any knowledge or skill that I have is being put out to pasture. I enjoy mentoring younger veterinarians, but have had no opportunities despite offering my services. Fortunately there are enough friends, family, and friends of family that ask me for advice so that I feel that I am exercising some of my brain. Of course, I always make sure that anybody asking for my opinion may be getting what they are paying for...
My enemy is inertia. I like to read and can find my self sitting for hours. I like to have projects, and have taken the opportunity to learn some small new skills. Marcia and I go to the gym, I take short, slow runs, we go for drives (including some high speed drives on a track). The kids are healthy and doing well. Marcia and I are healthy and well. Basically life is good.