Glorious Autumn

When you get a true autumn, when the weather stays above zero and the leaves stay on the trees long enough to change to yellow, orange, red and brown, the one temptation that indicates a youthful has got to be the impulse to jump in a pile, drop down and roll in the leaves.  I had to laugh when I dumped two giant piles of leaves into the chicken run and as soon as I shut the gate the Henriettas were hopping on top and rustling their way down through the pile.  Just like little kids.

I’ve always found that with the arrival of autumn there is a new energy in the air partly from the tradition of going back to school but certainly just because of the crispness of the season.  It’s therefore fitting that I am starting this new chapter of my life in the autumn since it immediately puts me in schoolgirl mode.  I’m eagerly poring over the ”Planning Your Comfort Zones: Retirement Planning” book that was provided to me by my coach.  Most of the material is quite familiar to me which reassures me that everything I have learned and planned up to this point has been on the money.  

At this point I would like to encourage all my male readers to really look at their lives, their hobbies and interests as well as their social circle because you are the ones who will be hit the hardest in retirement if you are not properly prepared for what will come.  I’ve noticed that most men will likely only have one real friend but many associates most of whom will fall away from your circle once you are retired.  Women generally have a wider circle of friends and seem to be better at keeping associations going after they leave their place of work.  Women also typically do not define themselves by their work while most men will.  There are a lot of websites and books to help everyone find a niche if they are really interested in having a quality retirement.

I’m really happy to be enjoying an Indian Summer as I enter my own “Indian Summer”.  What a different mood would have had if I had done this in dead of winter.  When you are planning your exit you may want to take seasonal timing into account, something which I had not done but turned out fortuitously.