WHEN I'M SIXTY FOUR

I’m still working on rewriting that Life List. An idea will hit me and I will furiously write it down. Then the list will sit for weeks, sort of forgotten, mostly ignored. Recently, I have been thinking how that Life List should be more of a Retirement List. Though, I expect I will be much older than sixty four when retirement happens. Last week, I was talking to one of the ladies in histology and she told me that she was retiring in January and moving to Florida. I wouldn’t dare guess about her age, but she said that she had been in research science for more than thirty five years now and it was time. She still seems youngish to me and this made me realize that I too might still be youngish when I finally retire. I mean, Sir Paul McCartney is seventy eight years old and he just released a new album. During a Pandemic! Michael read me a post from someone he knows on Facebook. This person was wishing their sister a happy fortieth and something about her life was now half over. I said “How are you living your life that you’re only going to live to eighty?!?!” Micheal’s response was “You expect to live longer than that?!?”

Well…yeah…I do expect to live longer than that. That is why I need a game plan.

I have some ideas. The early years of retirement involve an RV that will also accommodate storage for our scooters. By then, Michael will have dumped his giant scooter in favor of a more reasonably sized Vespa. Both of our Vespas will fit nicely in the toy hauler Class C Motorhome that I have already picked out for us. We’re going to travel the country and one way of funding our adventures will be our December job as Mr and Mrs. Santa Claus. We will supplement the rest of our income with Michael teaching some online math classes and me teaching some RV park yoga classes. On nice days, we will explore what ever town or area we are in on our scooters. Rainy days will be spent relaxing at the campground. I will be warm during the winter months and a comfortable temperature in the summer months. During the Fall months, we will be in whatever part of the country that has the most spectacular Fall leaves. Probably Vermont.

Eventually though, the RV lifestyle is going to be unpractical and our bodies will need something more stable. I have a plan for this. Okay, so you know those road side motels that are made up of small tiny cottages? Like the kind you see on Route 66 or something? I’m going to buy one of those, preferably one in a temperate climate area and close enough to a hospital. One cottage will be reserved for a licensed geriatric nurse. The other cottages are up for grabs and will be our personal living spaces. The main office area will be converted into a communal living room with a giant kitchen. We will have an on duty chef, but with also the option of cooking our meals or potluck meals. There will be a pool and pickle ball court because I hear that pickle ball is all the rage with the geriatrics. There will be activities and volunteer opportunities and maybe a community vegetable garden. We’ll form our own Rock-n-Roll choir like the one featured on CBS Sunday Morning. I’m basically just creating my own retirement village. My very own version of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Except I hope to fill my village up with my friends.

It will be great.