Larry Halverson: I've Been Thinking

Here’s my dilemma as I approach my retirement and try to prepare for it financially and emotionally.

I have a very good idea of what I’m going to quit doing:

• Going to the office (coal mine) five or six days a week
• Interacting daily with coworkers and clients
• Adding value (taking care of business) for coworkers and clients
• Getting a paycheck

I have a pretty good idea of what I want to start doing:

• Making (and executing) plans with my spouse
• Doing things with and for our sons
• Building things in the shop
• Growing things in the garden
• Making art
• Making music
• Making our neighbors into friends
• Serving on boards
• Reading just for fun
• Napping in the sun
• Organizing our records
• Culling our stuff (eBay, here I come!)
• Volunteering
• Exercising in the middle of the day
• Seeing more movies, concerts, plays, etc.
• Writing more
• Having a glass of wine with lunch
• Managing our investments
• Looking at photo albums with spouse and sons
• Becoming more adept at digital photography and computer graphics
• Traveling
• Walking/running the dog
• Holding the cats

. . . and the list goes on.



So, I’m quite sure about the main things I’ll quit doing. And, I have a long list of what I want to do. What I don’t know, however, is what I actually will do. I can’t do everything on the “want to” list, at least not at the same time, and at an enjoyable pace, and well. So, where do I start? And, what else will be occupying my time and attention?

• Will I still be able to go to bed at a reasonable hour and get up in time to have a full 16+ hour day?
• Should I be doing a little cooking? Cleaning? Shopping? Chatting?
• What about visiting the relatives (you can pick your friends . . .)?
• What if we find we need supplemental income?
• What will I do if I or a family member gets sick or injured?
• What if one dies?
• What if we don’t die before the money’s gone?
• What'll I do?

And that, my friends, is the song, or at least the phrase from the song, that I can’t get out of my head lately. Irving Berlin wrote it in 1923. Several people recorded it, including the version I recall by Linda Ronstadt in 1983.

What’ll I do when you are far away,
And I am blue, what’ll I do?

The song is about the end of a romance, of course. My relationship with my career has been good, but not that good. Still, the end of it will definitely leave me with a sense of loss. And, and lack of direction. It will require me to reinvent myself. And, I’m not sure how much leeway, or how much capability, I truly have in that regard.

So, I can’t help but wonder . . . really, what’ll I do?