New responsibilities, relocation and retirement

Mama spent a good portion of the day running errands yesterday. Errands for her business and errands for home. Today will be much the same. She is meeting with Kim Cantrell this morning to take a training on how to assume the responsibilities as treasurer for the ministry the Cantrell’s have to the National Guard. Boots and Badges is the name of that ministry. I am not sure what the duties will be for Mama in the role she is taking on, but she and Kimberlyn will work together this morning to get her started. The training is a couple hours long and I am sure there will be no particular hurry on Kimberlyn’s part to get back home. After the training and visit, Mama will be going to Grandma and Grandpa’s to help them pack for the move they are planning.

Norman and Grandpa are supposed to purchase a used RV for Grandma and Grandpa to pack all their personal belongings into for the move they are planning this month. Norman will then haul the RV to Florida and set it up for them. On the 20^th of the month, he will return to get Grandma and Grandpa and haul them to the new lodgings. At least, that is the travel itinerary at the moment. We will see how that works out. I do not know when I will make my way over to say goodbye, but I will definitely make that trip soon. There is only a week left of their time in Texas. I hope they find what they are looking for in Florida, and I wish them well. There are more challenges ahead of them than they realize and there is a strong possibility that we will not have the chance to see them again before one of them passes on. I hope they are not disappointed in the choice, but their heart is not here anymore, so they are traveling to more promising venues and the chance to be around family as they age. Florida has some wonderful areas to visit if Grandma and Grandpa have the desire to do so. I should work out well for them overall.

I will be teaching a class tomorrow. It will be an in-person class comprised mostly of employees from our company. Fortunately for my voice, the class I was scheduled to teach on Thursday was cancelled due to lack of interest. It is a challenge for my voice to teach back-to-back classes, so we try to avoid scheduling them in that way, but that is how it falls from time to time. Friday I will be in a class, but I will not be the instructor. I have been asked to provide oversight to the class because we had one pretty bad review of the last online class taught by the instructor scheduled for Friday. I am not sure how to help without being obvious, but I will try.

I am starting to do a serious study of our financial needs going froward to determine when I can retire. I have asked a couple financial advisors to put me in touch with someone who can guide me through the process of signing up for Medicare when I have my next birthday, but I have not been provided that information yet. I am sure it is more nuanced than most people know, and I want to get it right from the inception rather than discover my mistakes along the way. If that is even possible. I do know that in the multitude of counselors there is wisdom. Therefore, I am seeking that counsel. I am not happy with the numbers I am currently seeing in my financial diagnosis, but we are not far from where we need to be to get to the point that retirement is possible in the very near future. Fortunately, as I have said before, the job I am currently working is low impact and I should be able to carry on with it until I can back away from the routine completely. Soon, but not yet. Besides, for the most part, I enjoy this job.

I have looked at retiring outside of the United States but am not willing to seriously consider that at the moment. Maybe because the right opportunity has not come along. Maybe because I am too used to the conveniences of life here. Maybe because it would be too much of a hardship on Mama. Maybe because it would be too difficult for our children and grandchildren to reach us if they desired to do so. Maybe because we love our church family and love being a part of that ministry and that congregation. Maybe because we love the farm, and the life God has given us here and it would far too challenging to replace it. Especially at our age. Whatever the case, I am not looking that direction right now. I certainly cannot see Mama and I living in a camper at an RV park as part of our quest for a better future. That would require a special calling of the Lord to go that direction. He has not done so..yet.

So, here we stay. That is not a bad thing. It is our happy place and so few people have that.