Street Wisdom

 Anticipation

In 2022 I saw a brilliant piece of street philosophy written near the Manhattan Bridge. Every now and then I like to remind myself of its simple, yet profound message. As I contemplate my retirement it's sentiment seems even more pertinent.

I don't know what retirement is going to look like for me. I doubt I will be one of those people who completely stops working. Even on vacation I'm usually only good for about 10 days of unstructured time, and then I start to fall apart. I can see myself looking for at least part time work. But I don't want to retire just to go back to work.

But I also don't want to be like my father who basically spent his retirement in his chair in front of the TV.

But before that happens, I really want to spend time focused on some side projects.

Foremost among them is writing.

Even before I learned to read I knew I wanted to be a writer. My mother read books to me, and when I realized that a person could spend their life telling stories I shoved astronaut to second place in my list of occupational goals. I remember scribbling lines onto the pages of a yellow legal tablet and running into the sewing room to ask mom what I had written.

For many years I made a living as a journalist. Not once did I fail to feel that electric frisson shoot down my spine when I read my byline. I have also been fortunate enough to sell some short fiction, and I self-published a middle-grade trilogy that I'm really proud of. I've had a taste of what it is to be an author. Now I want the whole meal.

Screw it, I want a table at the buffet.

Once I retire I plan to write every day. I've got a few short stories that I need to finish, and some others that need polished. My goal is to dedicate two hours every morning to my writing. Then, after a week or so, increase the time every week or so until I'm up to 4 hours every day at the keyboard.

I also want to do some more stained glass pieces. I don't know if I'll continue the glass work after we move to New York, so I need to take advantage of the space I have while we're still in Ohio.

There's also wood carving. It's messy. When I carve wood there's a lot of shavings, sawdust and blood (because I'm not very careful with the chisels).

I'll probably also do some more book binding.

And solo RPG play.

It might not be as easy as I thought to squeeze a job into all of that.