Retirement: How Did I Get Here?

Mine was a long career of stumbling from job to job. Upon graduation from high school, I had no idea what I would do. In my senior year, I decided to join the Oregon National Guard, partially because it gave me some direction in life and partially to avoid the draft into the Korean Conflict. While this may not sound very patriotic, I assure you that I am a gung-ho, dyed in the wool patriot. I guess an over-protective mother who did not want her sons in the war influenced me. I had an older brother in Korea and things did not seem to go well with him. He later died in Viet Nam. As we now know, joining the National Guard is not necessarily an effective way of avoiding the draft.

The National Guard offered me the opportunity to attend “Fire Control School” in Fort Bliss, Texas. I did not want to learn about fighting fires, but I was soon informed that fire control school was about a weapon control system. I agreed to go to Texas and get educated. This led a 28-year career in electronics.

The second stumble was a 9-year stint as a corporate comptroller and the third, 7-year as a security administrator in Washington, DC.

In 2000, I retired to a 5-acre plot of woodland in Oregon, upon which we placed a triple-wide manufactured home. For four years I was content to putter around our 5-acre resort in the woods, but then began to get a wanderlust. We purchased a 26-year-old motorhome and began to refurbish it. I soon discovered I had bit off more than I could chew. After a short stint working as a supermarket courtesy clerk, I took a most enjoyable job as a school-bus driver. After three years with the school kids, my wife and I began developing minor health problems so I re-retired.

I now putter with a computer writing articles like this one for a little extra income and “sumpthin to do” as my young son used to say. My point is—you need sumpthin to do in retirement, whether it be puttering around, traveling or working part time. Retirement to the "old rockin' chair” will getcha. Most of us have a tendency to put on weight and just get lazy. This is not good for your health and a long retirement.

So, find sumpthin to do and enjoy retirement. It just might get you out of your spouse’s hair and make her retirement better, too.