Dylan Thomas wrote:

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Kelly quoted this famous poem’s first line to me when we talked about what I planned to do next—after the retirement Ph.D. Honestly, I have been at loose ends since I finished. It was such a big, longitudinal project that I had not anticipated what I would do after it finished. It was like when the kids left home to go to college. We were so involved and invested in the mechanics of them doing well, we did not consider what to do when the left. The kids exit to college from home and and the Ph.D. completion. were both very precipitous. One instant there was too much stuff to complete and the next instant there was just nothing.

The other wildcard in our current situation is that I am past retirement age by three years. I work with people of good will and like my work in my day job. The CEO has asked me to stay until I am at least 70 and then work as much as I want after that. I view that as a literal gift from God. I get to work from wherever I want with some old friends (both over 75 years old) in what is normally a 40 hour work week. Truly, this is a luxury for me. But that leaves time on my hands and it is bad for me to be idle. The funny deal is that it is bad for my health to be idle, too. I tend to get more exercise and maintain more discipline in eating when I am busy.

So, the question is, what should I do? I will be done and back in the same boat if I pick something to small. If I pick something too big, I will be dead before I complete it. Realistically, God willing, I think of have maybe ten years to do one to three relatively big (for me) things. My list of potential projects is pretty small so I am reaching out to friends and family to help me identify something that really looks worthwhile. The list so far includes:

  • Earn a Juris Doctor degree
  • Write a book on our father-directed homeschool

That is it. I cannot think of much else. Lorena and I want to travel some, but right now that will be to go down to Mexico to visit Grandma Conchita and to the east coast to visit Kelly and Christian.

I think one thing that might help is to start writing in this blog more. It helps organize my thoughts and might help get me pushed off center to the next big thing.