What do I do in retirement?

I read an online question on social media today that triggered a thought. The writer, a young person really not even in the so-called "working world" asked someone else (not me), "What do you do in retirement? I mean, you've worked so long and now, nothing!"

So, what do I do in retirement?

Definitely not 'nothing.' In fact, avoiding that was originally part of my pre-retirement consideration. Too many people I knew approached retirement as "quitting their job," not as "starting a new chapter in life," as I did. Many of them died soon after stopping work and I have to believe there is a connection.

Much of what I do is read. Right now, in fact, here is the list of current books I am reading:

• Loose Lips, Claire Berlinski (again; I have read this several times and enjoy it);
• Roads to Quoz, William Least Heat-Moon, my favorite author;
• Celestial Mechanics, William Least Heat-Moon;
• River Horse, William Least Heat-Moon;
• Research Like a Pro - A Genealogical Guide, Diana Elder, AG;
• Mrs. Sherlock Holmes: The True Story of New York City's Greatest Female Detective and the 1917 Missing Girl Case That Captivated a Nation, Brad Ricca;
• AWOL On the Appalachian Trail, David Miller

I read a few pages of this or many pages of that. Interspersed, I might read some Baha'i Writings or even something online. I do not watch much television, though I have been a Netflix subscriber since I lived in Alaska and the movies came in the mail in red sleeves.

I chat with my daughters, play online checkers with my grandson, and listen to a whole lot of music streaming on one of my two Alexa Echos. And I work on my genealogy and write.

Retirement can be fun as long as one plans ahead. I did and I am reaping the benefits of that planning

William Least Heat-Moon, author, wise man

One of the problem-benefits of having many hours off (so far, 51 and counting) and loving to read the printed word is doing so...especially his.

"After all," he wrote, "I lived in the most unfixed nation the earth has ever seen, a country conceived and populated by wanderers, wayfarers, migrants, immigrants, voyagers, vagabonds, most of them believing in the far side of the rainbow, in the possibilities of elsewhere, optimists for whom the road is an enticement beyond resistance and almost any there is preferable to a here..."

"Is there an American who has never muttered, "What if I just quit? Just said fuggum and took off?"

I could write many of his thoughts and words down but the post would, in fact, be his books.

Is it ever too late to become what you might become?