Retirement Plans

Is life supposed to go according to plan? I always thought so. I'm not sure why really, but I always felt that everything would work out for the best somehow, and that there was a life-plan in motion. One thing I know now is that this very well may be true, but my plan isn't always His plan. Actually, looking back, it seems my life-plan is rarely His plan. Strange. I've always wanted it to be though.
On the outside, military life looks very neat and tidy. There is an order to it. You are told where to live, what job to do, how to behave, how to dress, and when it's time to move again. Life seems simple and paid for. It's easy to become complacent.
For me, before you know it, 25 years has gone by and it's time to retire. How did that happen? Where did the time go? I'm still processing ...
All in all, the plans we made didn't really work out the way we thought they would, but somehow our life turned into a lovely tapestry of fabulous experiences, sad endings, painful revelations, pure joy, and an inexplicable love for one another.
Not bad! Not bad at all.

Labor in Hope

Labor in Hope:

“Labor with all your strength; bring to the Lord all your concerns about success. Trust in God is the foundation of spiritual life. Nothing will happen all of a sudden; everything will come about in its own time. Everything you seek with faith will come. But when? When the Lord is ready to grant it. Be patient, remaining steadfast in the ways you have begun. Be inspired with the hope that the day will come when the light of joy will glow in the heart and it will be emancipated from all bonds, bringing freedom of movement and raising you to that place where the noble images of spirit ascend. Then you will soar in the realm of the spirit like a bird that has been freed from its cage.”  

                                St. Theophan the Recluse (1815-1894)

“Now that you are retired, what are you going to do?”

“Now that you are retired, what are you going to do?”

Wow! It’s amazing to me that people are even asking us that question. Where has the time gone? It doesn't seem like 23 years ago that someone else (the United States Navy) packed up our belongings and moved us to our first duty station – Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in 29 Palms, CA. What an amazing feeling! We stationed there for four years, and here we are 19 years later.

As many of you know, our last duty station was also with the Marines – Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, NC, which ended this past August, 2014. This time we only stayed for one year. (That is a whole story in-itself.) Rather than rent, we stumbled upon a fabulous opportunity to buy a home very near the base, one street in from the water. It’s our dream home! Retirement plans were working much as we had planned.

But then …

Boy, howdy!How plans can change.

Over the coming months, I’d like to write about retirement and what it I thought it was going to be, what it is, and what, perhaps, it ought to be – from my perspective.