Time To Start

I have some great role models for retirement so I will start this first retirement entry dedicated to them. With each of my mother's sisters all in their 60's and 70's blogging away and encouraging me to follow suit, I suppose this is inevitable.
I kept thinking I wanted my blog to have a specific purpose, more than just what I'm doing each day and with so many of my friends and colleagues facing retirement, I thought that might be my purpose. I retired 2 1/2 years ago but continued to work part time until last May when both my husband and I decided to fully retire and to move to Boulder, Utah. We have always loved Boulder but it is a very small community and it would have been difficult to make a living here and also to keep both of our children happy especially the one that loved all sports and eventually received a scholarship to play football in college (they don't play football in the local high school of less than 100 students in grades 7 to 12). So we waited for him to graduate. We also had my mother-in-law, daughter, and grandson living with us, so that was difficult to consider a move. But in the last couple of years, everyone has found their place and the time seemed just right for this move.
I want to focus on retirement because I see so many people struggle with this phase of life. There are many concerns about retiring; will there be enough money to get to the end, will there be adequate health care without a job, will I like my spouse well enough to just hang out together, will I have any value without my job title, what will I do with my time, and on and on. I have considered these concerns as well and I know I will face many of them even further as time goes on, but I also have the experience of seeing my mother die of cancer at age 51 and my father-in-law died at 47 of a heart attack. I know too personally that all of this can end at anytime and I don't want my whole life to be work or one job even I really loved that job and was very good at it. I think there might be some other things I will love and some other things I am good at. That is why this blog is titled "Directions 4 Retirement." Maybe I can provide some directions to make this step easier for someone else but more importantly for me it is the directions that I will take in my retirement. It is a journey that I look forward to even if I can't fully envision where it will take me. But I believe it will be a great ride.