What do I want MORE of?

Love this!- Caroline at my house playing with shaving cream.

 One of my cousins sent these new year wishes:  "lots of money, lots of people to love you, and lots of time."  But, I already have "lots" (enough) money, lots of people that love me, and lots of time now that I am retired; I don't need more!  Don and I are so blessed to have worked for a school system that had a good retirement, and so, we don't have to worry about money.   We were able to sell our house on St. Simons and, with that money, bought a house here, near the kids (and we had a little left over for our savings.)  Don had also bought some land (with plans to build on it at some point) a long time ago.  With the money we made when we sold it, we bought the condo on St. Simons so that Julie could rent it from us while she lived and worked on SS.   Now we can go down to St. Simons whenever we want to go.  I love the beach and we go fishing together on our boat (it's for 2 maybe 3 people.)  We  didn't go down there so much this winter.  We went to Las Vegas for a week and have been busy with Christmas.  We so appreciate being able to share with our children and grands.

 

Don and I on the lifeguard chair last Summer at SSI

Don retired 2 years ago and I just retired in June and I'm loving it.  I am not a bit bored and treasure being able to divide my time doing whatever I decide to do.  In fact, some days I still feel like there is not enough time for the things I set out to do.  But then I remember that I'm retired and can continue with whatever tomorrow.  No pressure.  

Don and I are still getting used to being in the same place all the time.  He wants to know what I'm doing and I want to know what he's doing.  Then we laugh and I realize that the "doing" is not important in itself but the fact that we have a choice and act upon it; that is the treasure.

Dive into every day head first like Caroline!

I just read a blog that posed the question: "If you already had “enough” money to retire, would you work a full-time job for one more year if you could walk away with $500k from that year’s work?"  She says for herself: "I think I would regret it.  Because it probably isn’t what I’d want to be doing with my life and I would be letting life slip by, even if it was only just a year of it."  I agree.  I can't see myself living any other way.  I love my life!  And, it was fun reading all the comments!  I would definitely not go to work, but I think Don would...

It's all about Caroline today!

I think in order to continue my life as it is I would put health as number 1 for wanting more of.  That is a great gift: to have our health and that of our loved ones in order to live each day to the fullest.  My sister, Maria Luisa who has been battling cancer says at the end of her New Year's letter that describe the highlights of her year: 

"Health: So how is my health, you wonder?? Since May 2009 to Dec 2011 the big C is totally controlled – all is “stable” in CT scans every 3 months. The bones with BC metastasis will never be “healed” but as long as it doesn't spread to other bones or essential organs, I can live many more years of life to serve, to love, to enjoy family and friends like you, to rejoice in the wonder of our world, and to continue to make our earth a better place for all human beings.
Let us celebrate Christ‟s Birth every day in our hearts, and re-commit to a New Year of making God's Dream more real in our corner of the world."

Maria Luisa - left - her son and wife, with 3 grandchildren and some cousins