The past few months I've been getting my proverbial ducks all lined up. Friends ask what I will be doing when I retire, will I spend more time traveling? Laughing, I tell them the ducks I’m getting all in a row are little ducks. Only people with BIG ducks make travel plans.
Most of my life I worked for nonprofit organizations. The calling to serve people in need brought me a great deal of satisfaction but did not create retirement funds. Only in the final 15 years of my career have I worked for a company which offered me an opportunity to save for the future. Though not large, the money I’ve accumulated in my IRA will allow me at least some breathing room for a while.
Through the years I’ve always looked much younger than I actually am. When applying for my driver’s license at the ripe old age of 25, I was told I needed my mother to sign for a learner’s permit. They thought I was 16. When my older daughter had babies, a lot of people thought they were mine, etc., etc. Even now, some co-workers think I am retiring early.
At one point, because I was curious about this discrepancy, I took a revolutionary test that tracks how fast you’ve been aging using the latest generation technology in the science of epigenetics. It reveals your biological age, a measure of the average age at which your body is expected to function as well as your cumulative rate of aging, the pace at which your body has aged for every year you’ve been alive. Accordingly, my biological age is 12 years younger than my chronological age. No surprise to my family.
Consequently, though I may only have little ducks, I also have probable longevity. Time enough to be present as my grandkids grow up and forge ahead into their own futures. Time enough to enjoy lasting friendships and meaningful endeavors. Time to write the book that’s been on the back burner. Time to continue making quilts for family members. Time to be exposed to new ideas, to learn new skills. Time enough to run completely out of money other than social security.
I believe abundance has no borders. I acknowledge there’s rigidity when it comes to what is referred to as fixed income, an indelible line drawn around one’s financial capabilities. Every day people experience economic limitations and insufficiency; retirees and senior citizens struggle to live adequately. Can abundance pass through the gaps of such monetary capture?
In the next months and years, I’ll find out. I’ll experience downsizing; I’ll have to choose what belongings I keep. But I’ll also be exposed to as yet unseen opportunities, expanded horizons, fresh beginnings, unlooked-for occasions for joy and celebration.
I’m confident my little ducks can swim all the way across the pond.
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