“I can see clearly now,” was a 1972 hit by Johnny Nash, and it’s reggae beat made everyone happy, especially optometrists. This was before the year 2020 became the “vision” of every futurist around the world. Most companies set their “sights” on achieving long-range goals and it became the cornerstone for every 10, 15, or 20-year plan. Finally, that landmark year is about to arrive and it’s time for all of us to reassess our lives. When the clock strikes midnight in just a few days, the “Roaring 20’s” might just be making an encore with double the impact…20-20.

The 1920’s was a decade filled with prosperity, prohibition, mobsters, feminism, and ultimately ended with a crash. Mickey Mouse was born in 1928. What does the 2020’s hold in store for us? If only we had 20/20 vision and could see it clearly. For me, it will include my 70th & 75th birthday, and will be my first full decade of retirement, that will involve a great deal of travel. We will probably easily go through three-fourth of our life savings in buying a retirement home, airline tickets, cruises, hotel rooms, and food. Hopefully, the Stock Market can continue to flourish, at least until the end of the ten-year span, as it did in the last go-around. I hope the Roaring 20-20’s are good to me and my family. 

I’ll start the decade at one of my favorite places on earth, Walt Disney World with all my favorite people – wife, son, daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren. They will grow into young adults during this timeframe, and I will watch with fascination. I’ll continue to enjoy living in downtown Portland between monthly travel ventures, and hopefully find a permanent retirement home in a warmer climate. We’ll pay-off most of our property debt over the next seven or eight years, including the Marriott Vacation Club and Regions Bank Decatur home mortgage, leaving only the final home that we buy and the day-to-day hassles of ownership to worry about. When these ten years have quickly passed, I’ll prepare for life as an eighty-year-old, as ancient as that now sounds. By then, I will have seen all the worldly sights that I’ve needed to experience and can settle into a comfortable homebody existence. Good health will be the key to everything. 

I’ve prepared my New Years resolutions, as I continue to update the list from the year before: 

More positive attitude/See Rainbows/Smell the Roses
Drive from Miami to Keys
Egypt Cruise
Week in Bali
Vegas/Grand Canyon/Glacier National Park
Spring Training/TucsonIndy – IU BB game
Find retirement home
Hearing aids
Less Drinking 1 instead of 2
Weekly Friday or Saturday Leadership Meeting
Olympic trials in Eugene
Plan China Trip for 2021 (20th Anniv.)
Compliment my wife more
See the Beauty in Life
Get To Run Everyday to 12th Anniversary
Daily pushups, crunches, and stretching
Drink More Water-Less pop
Weight maintain at <190. White diet.
More connections with old friends and family
Debt Reduction Continues
Sell car
Win writing contest
Chew slowly/soft foods -tooth care 
Celebrate each day with my wife
Stay in touch with Adam/be a good Grandad
Contribute to kids education funds
Limoges or jewelry gift with poem each month
Poem to johnstonwrites monthly
Daily blog post
Weekly Date Night
Northern Lights
Call Judy on Mondays
Meet Janine Marthai
Find volunteer work
Cooking on Thursdays
Cut down on expenses
Continue laundry/vacuum/dust/mop
Baseball card collection
Indiana HS Hall of Fame museums
Read a book a week
Write a novel
Do some drawing, sketching, painting
Learn to play the uke

Here’s to 2020 and Ten Years After!