How to Retire, Lessons from a cruise

Taking three weeks to see Antarctica and Southern Chile as we enter the last third of our mission—besides seeming very weird—has given me time to think about life after mission, aka: retirement. This cruise ship with its unending variety of activities is a kind of small world where we can sample ways to be.  There are poster children for the gym/fitness folks, the spa/indulgences people, the casino/bingo goers, the foodies, the movie buffs, the formal dinner/dancers, and many more. I’ve tried to take advantage of a sampling of what is offered, and as our time on the ship comes to an end, I think I have some idea of what I want my retirement to be.   

I want to eat what I want when I want to. Good quality. Just a little. Fresh flowers. Yes, it’s worth the trouble, Kathleen. Get up off the couch!

I really enjoy a good show! The high school musical productions and local theatre are close, good and inexpensive. 

More than an hour on the internet is prodigal. Escapism at its worst. Not having it readily available has been good.

Spending time in the outdoors feeds the soul.  I need the daily exercise and the occasional adventure like I need oxygen and sunlight. We did a 5K (On Deck For a Cause)--12 laps around the deck of the ship and donated to cancer funds.

Learning something new every day about where we’ve been or where we’re going is a practice I want to continue in some form. A BYU professor of mine in the late 60's--Alvin Price, I think--claimed to have anonymously subscribed to liberal magazines for his very conservative father who he knew would read them in a state of agitation. Gotta keep the brain cells firing.

Time to read silently, and sharing a read-aloud with Jay has been very bonding. We can’t let this go! It was so neat to be in Valparaiso where we'd read about Parley P. Pratt walking along those very streets, and being in the same port, also Valparaiso, where the survivors of the Essex whaling ship disaster ended up after months at sea and near starvation. (A very good read, by the way, In The Heart of the Sea, the whale attack that inspired Herman Melville's classic.)

Including friends in what we’re doing! During our working years we became evening isolationists. Better to live like Pearl and Carroll—games around the kitchen table, jumping in the car to go visit someone! And that is sparkling cider with our new friends Pete and ParCeil.

And of course, what we’re missing on this cruise and in our life right now is family. That’s what it’s all about and what we live for. I can’t wait to be routinely in their lives, the kids, the grandkids, the siblings, the cousins. Time together up close unending.