Working Again

     I saw an old colleague from work at a holiday party a week or so ago  -- the last of my friends who is still working full time. He came up to me, drink in hand, and we made some polite conversation, and then he told me he had a job for me, if I wanted it.

     He is 69 years old. And so after dodging the question for a few moments I asked him, "So, when are you going to retire?"

     "Oh, I don't know," he shrugged. "The job keeps me busy; and besides, the money comes in handy."

     His wife, who's about his same age, maybe a year younger, is also still working. They have only one child, a grown daughter who is married with a job of her own. So I don't get it.. He can't need the money. Some people must just be built to go to work.

     Then the day before yesterday the job came in -- and of course, I said I'd do it. (Okay, I get the irony . . . I'm the guy who can't stop working, either.)

     But at least the work I'll be doing is nothing permanent. It's an assignment that will take about a month to complete -- and what else am I going to be doing with several inches of snow on the ground and the thermometer reading, literally, -3 degrees this morning?

     Besides, we all know that retirement is not necessarily an all-or-nothing proposition. And neither is financial independence. And even retirees who are truly financially independent, the experts tell us, need to find pursuits that engage their interests.

     Nobody can expect to be happy sitting in front of the TV for the rest of their lives -- especially at this time of year if you're not a football or basketball fan. We need activities that stimulate our imagination, connect us to other people, and help us develop a commitment to something more than our own self-interest.

     I do enjoy working, now and then, because it gives me some focused activity; it brings in a little money; and it makes me feel good to be engaged in a project that's important enough for someone to actually pay me for it. A job takes me out of myself, and makes me feel like I'm worth something beyond my own little life and my own family.

When do I get to retire?

     I've been freelancing and consulting for more than ten years now. But honestly, in the last year or two, the work has been drying up. I think there's probably plenty of work out there, if I was willing to go out and get it. But now that I've actually gone ahead and applied for my Social Security benefit (which I won't see until the third week in February at the earliest), I don't feel as if I still have to be beating the bushes, pounding the pavement, networking and cold calling people in order to find a job.

     But now one comes along, and I can do it mostly on my own terms. I have the time to spare since B and I have completed our move, and at least the first phase of our home renovation is over. I am leaving for Florida in a week; but this is the type of job I can take with me and do on the road, working on my computer.

     Besides, I could use the change of pace, as well as the few thousand dollars I'll get for a month of employment. So I'll be working for a few weeks, and may be posting less often. Somehow I think the blogosphere will survive my partial absence.

     See you around . . . and if I'm looking a little frazzled, it's because I'll be blogging in my off hours, with my other eye on the paycheck being dangled in front of my nose.