This next decade is truly shaping-up to be “the sunset of our lives,” or at least mine. Some call it the return of the “Roaring Twenties.” I already addressed this in a recent post, but I also wanted to take it back another century to see if there are any comparisons. The 1820’s were relatively uneventful, filled with Presidential controversies, so some things never change. This time frame did not really provide any meaningful insight into the future.  All that history can effectively prove is that the sun rises and sets every single day. 

I’m looking out at a gorgeous sunset over Punta Gorda Bay, as I continue to reflect on my retirement destiny. Will we find a home here in sunny Florida? Can we live in Florida without being directly on the beach, as my wife constantly bemuses? How close to the water is accessible enough to allow enough net savings for aggressive travel spending? We just added a night in Walla-Walla, Washington to our trip to Glacier National Park to stay at the historic Marcus Whitman Hotel. We’ll spend the night at several well-preserved properties on this 1500 mile round-trip drive, including reservations at The Davenport in Spokane, and both the Izaak Walton and Prince of Wales inside the park boundaries that extend over the Canadian line into British Columbia. We’re slowly adding details to our upcoming New Year adventures. Poor Tally, our schnauzer will once again be left behind with a sitter. 

Once this decade speeds by, and I rapidly approach my 80’s, it’s important that we see as much as possible before the proverbial sun goes down. None of us knows if even tomorrow will come, let alone another ten years of life. It’s just a matter of how long the sunset will last, not to mention my legs. I started the year with a rough 3.1 miles after a late night of gluttony and gruel. I was up until 1:30 a.m., although granted only 10:30 Pacific Standard Time. A sugar high woke me up at about 4 a.m., as the sweet port and Bananas Foster finally left my stomach and entered the blood stream. The highlight of the first day of 2020 was when my wife finally got to meet my newest grand-girl. It was special to get all three grand-kids, my son, his wife, and my wife all at the same table – the whole famn damily! We’ll head for Orlando in two days following a couple of realtor appointments and a dinner reunion with one of my wife’s oldest friends. We’ll enjoy the sunset from their ocean-side home on Siesta Key.