Only Happens to Old People

My husband Mitch and I never thought we would be old enough to talk about retirement.  Like most young people, we thought that aging was something that only happens to old people.  We met when we were very young, at Bancroft Junior High School in Long Beach, California.  Mitch sat behind me in 7th grade English class and sometime during the second semester, he managed to work up the courage to ask me to the school dance.

Sometimes it seems like that was only yesterday.  But a lifetime of activities and responsibilities and hopes and dreams has come and gone since then, and now we find ourselves only a year or two away from the “R” word.  Lately, it is becoming less of a distant threat and more of a pending reality.  Strangely enough, we are embracing it!

Getting old is something that happens slowly, then suddenly.  That’s the best way to describe it.  But it’s not without its charms.  The kids are all grown up and moved out years ago.  Finances are in better shape than they were when we were young and we enjoy each other’s company more and more each day.

Not in Front of the TV

We have a lot of ideas about how we will spend our sunset years.  Central to these conversations is how we will serve the Lord.  It simply isn’t an option for us to sit around and grow old in front of the television.  So, if watching Gilligan’s Island reruns is not an option, how then will we spend our time?  We’ve considered volunteering for a missionary organization, perhaps overseas.  We are beginning to research those groups who might need help and we are praying for guidance. Please pray with us and for us, that we will seek and do God’s will, no matter where that takes us.

Are you retired?  How are you spending your senior years?  Are you serving in different ways than when you were committed to the 9 to 5?  Tell me all about it at Lifting Her Voice, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.