Goal Setting in Retirement

That day when you look at your spouse and realize that you’ve accomplished everything you set out to accomplish after you retired?  Yeah, that’s happened. 

For those of you whose goal is to retire, be advised:  retirement is a doorway, not a destination.  When we retired we knew we would buy a trailer and work as campground hosts for five years.  During this time we would continue to become totally debt-free by reinvesting most of our rental income back into the properties.

Fast forward four years, five months, and three days, and here we are.  We decided to give up camp hosting after the summer of 2015 and learned that we quite enjoy camping without cleaning toilets.  All our rental properties are paid for.  Our hard work helping our son and daughter-in-law plan and execute their wedding culminated in a beautiful October 1 celebration.   And we have set no additional goals.

So now what do we want to do?  Travel?  Downsize?  Buy a summer home (or in our case, a winter home)?  Just for fun, I looked through an attempt at a “Bucket List” written in 2004 (eight years before we retired, and three years before we started calling them Bucket Lists).  There are 33 items on the list. 

#1 is to write and publish a novel. I’m working on it.  I’ve been working on it since 2012.  I’m on Chapter 31. 

#2 is to own two condos – one in SLC and one someplace warm.

Of the remaining 31 items, 13 are places I want to travel to (2 accomplished), 6 are things I’d like to do with my time (2 accomplished), 2 are things I’d like to learn, 3 are places I’d like to sing (2 accomplished), 2 are places I’d like to volunteer (1 accomplished), 2 are items I’ve since decided I never want to do, and the rest are pretty random .  Things like owning another pug, giving the kids nice weddings, and running a 5K.  Yes, I did write 5K.  How was I to know what an avid runner I would become?   So far I’ve accomplished 11 ½ of the 33 items on my list.

Just for fun, I shared the list with my husband.  He agreed with me that traveling more and trading in the big house for two smaller houses were ideas worth considering.  Maybe it’s time to transform these from the bucket list to actual goals that we can work on together.

The Bucket List - A Glider Flight

Well, OK, this was really on Paul’s brother Jon’s bucket list.  I had never even considered riding in an airplane without an engine, but, hey, why not?

It was a beautiful morning for the ride.  The air was cool and crisp, the sun was shining and the wind was still.  Our pilots explained that we would each ride alone, in the front of the glider, while the pilot controlled the aircraft from the rear seat.  Paul went first.  They strapped him into the cockpit and lowered the glass, then connected the tow strap from the tow plane, a single engine Piper, to the glider.  I watched as the tow plane pulled the glider into the air, then cut the line and let the glider sail.  It landed about 20 minutes later, and my exhilarated husband exited, all smiles.

Then it was my turn.  They had to add ballast to the front seat to ensure proper weight and balance, jokingly telling me that I had to sit on the “lead butt.”  It was true – they put about 40 lbs. of lead weight under the cushion of my seat.   The weights made a nice booster seat; it’s always good to be able to see over the control panel.  No more short jokes today, please.

Jon, Paul, and Pilot Tom

After attaching the five-point harness that strapped me in, my pilot, Tom, showed me all the controls and told me how they worked.  He then lowered the glass and I snapped it securely into place from the inside.  Thumbs up.   We hooked up to the tow plane and Tom announced our departure on runway 22.

The plane rose steadily to about 2000 feet above the airport before the pilot released the tow strap, and we were sailing through the air.  We soared across the mountains.  My hand was on the control stick and my feet were on the rudder pedals, so I could feel what the pilot was doing to control the aircraft.  The glider responded to Tom’s slightest touch, as the physics of flight played into his hands.  There was no wind noise.  There was no turbulence.  The peaceful floating sensation was interrupted only by Tom’s enthusiastic commentary about the flight and the area over which we flew.

All too soon it was time to land.  I was startled when Tom lifted the spoilers, which interrupt the flow of the air over the wings and help to bring it down.  Whoa – the "lead butt" landed with a slight bump - about a foot off the ground. I felt like I could reach down and touch the runway.  The glider rolled to a stop in the exact spot where I had boarded, and an exhilarated Cheri exited, all smiles.

Jon took the last ride.  Our introductory flight was a “teaser” designed to give first time “soarers” a taste of the thrill, and the peace, of gliders.  It worked.  I would do it again in a heartbeat.