The semester is over, the kids are on a two week vacation in Europe (probably the first of two this summer), and we have nothing much to do other than batten down the hatches for the stifling North Texas summer. It often feels like we are just waiting for the next thing to happen, but it is not really true. Lorena and I have several active projects that require serious attention and effort including the apartments (still preparing to sell) and the house (getting the remodel ready for ourselves and our visitors) in Mexico, landscape construction projects, dissertation research, two more classes, and my comprehensive exam for school, and other stuff we want to complete, if God is willing, before I retire. We have it all laid out, but one thing we have done differently than in previous major efforts as we arrived to a defined end, we have decided we need to take some time to smell the roses.
If we take another year, again, God willing, it does not matter that much. We want to visit the kids as much as possible, go on a trip or two to Mexico and to Europe, and just take things with a whole lot more calm than before. The way we see it, retirement is not when you quit, but when you start with something new. The problem is that we do not have that next thing quite figure out. We are going to try to spend more time with the kids and with Lorena’s mom and I plan to continue with some consulting if I can and continue to perform volunteer research, but it seems very, very unstructured. That is also okay, but it is so gratifying to have positive means and ends in mind that it would be a shame to throw that all aside at the end.
