As I’m aging, the prospect of my later years and retirement are becoming more and more important. This is a typical human reaction. In our younger years, we hardly pay the thought of getting old any attention. The business of being young and having fun is most important. And that is as it should be.
By ALAN SAMONS
But there comes a time when reality starts filtering through. We start focussing on our careers. We settle down. We buy property. We accumulate stuff. Perhaps even start a family. Every “grown-up” action or period of life adds a layer of heaviness on our lives. Then, at some stage in our fifties, reality settles in… For me it was the first time a young man called me “oom“. I. Nearly. Died. Am I really that old? Short answer: yes. In my mind and thoughts, I might be the same person I was in my twenties, but the mirror tells a vastly different story. I still dance when no-one is watching, but never in front of a mirror!
Now, as a couple, the question of retirement and where my partner and I think we’ll be in another fifteen or twenty years is cropping up more and more in conversation. We’ve even gotten our wills sorted. My dark sense of humour came to the fore when I made a file entitled “In Case Of My Death, Use This File”. The lettering has glitter glued to it. Morbidity is not my thing.
Truth is, there is so much to…
