This past week has been filled with joyous occasions, including my 71st birthday, the engagement of a good friend, a long overdue Santana/EWF concert, and a good report from the eye doctor on my wife’s retina concerns. We also got back to basics today with both “Matinee Monday” and “Meatless Monday.” The peanut butter sandwiches for lunch and cheese pizza for dinner were great, but the movie called “The Invitation” turned out to be a bad vampire flick. I might end the day with some more mulch stealing.

My wife has a neighborhood girls get together tomorrow, while the Borrego Boyz are getting back together for a “Leadership Luncheon” next week now that there’s a break in summer travel. I, of course, will not be available for next month’s meeting because we’ll be in Alaska/Hawaii. Nonetheless, familiarity has returned to our lives here in our resort community called Islandwalk. My son, grandson, and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings yesterday afternoon after getting back from Tampa for the annual NFL Fantasy Draft, and the grand daughters will join us for dinner at the house tomorrow night. Togetherness with family, friends, and travel have always been our primary goal in life. 

Finance discussions are on hold because of all the travel expenses we’re shelling out for the cruise and Kauai. It’s what we thought would be the final hurrah for our retirement funds with the exception of Egypt/London next year. However, when Viking was forced to cancel two legs of our Alaska excursion (Russia and then Japan), they offered a major bonus to prevent us from cancelling. It’s an opportunity for another future ocean cruise and we’re looking at Spain to Africa to South America in 2024. After that, we’ll probably have to focus on Marriott Vacation Resorts to satisfy our travel bugs as retirement savings quickly disappear. 

It all makes me think that we probably should have waited a few more years to retire, but I’m not sure I would give up what we’ve experienced these past six years. At the age of 71, my energy levels are falling as fast as my retirement funds and by seventy-five I think I’ll be ready to stick close to home. I’ll have seen all fifty states by then and covered at least Five of the Seven Continents. Australia was cancelled due to Covid and neither of us have a desire to see Antarctica. Under the circumstances, I’d be happy with Five!