Live Your Dream!

Throughout our 31 ½ years of marriage, Ray, my husband, has often asked me: “What do you want to do when you retire?” I have many times responded: “I haven’t a clue. I can’t begin to imagine now what I would like to do when I retire – its too far away.” Then, one day in April 2004, while on a business trip in Vancouver, Ray called me in the hotel to tell me that his company had done a “re-organization” and he had been given a retirement package. Two weeks later he was retired. The next time he asked me: “What do you want to do when we retire?” I couldn’t answer so glibly, so I thought about it for a while and then answered: “Lets sell the house, put our stuff in storage and go travel the world for two years.” So, we put the house on the market. It didn’t sell. I thought I was safe. In October 2006 we went to France on holiday. The subject came up again. This time the question was “When are you going to retire? If we want to travel, now is the time to do it. We are healthy, and fit. We should travel now while we are able.” How could I argue? I decided I couldn’t live with the guilt if something happened to either one of us before we lived our dream just because I wanted to continue in my job. In early November I told the Chair of our firm I was going to retire.