Well, most of you know what happened when I tried to retire at 54. I went back to school for 3 years and found a new career. I chose something I knew I could do part time until I was into my 70s, but my thoughts are now that I am going to stop when I am 65 or cut back to 2 shorter days a week until DH retires. DH is 3 years younger and now he will work until he is 65. He is hoping the new place might be open to him phasing down to part time when he is 63 or 64, and we feel like we want to have some time to have fun and travel while we are still young old people.
I hope I can handle retirement when I try again. I found I couldn't make myself ride everyday when I could, it made it feel like a job. I might get more active doing things for AMC, besides being a ride leader, as that seems to be the only volunteering I can stomach. Or something having to do with the outdoors. Most of the other things I would volunteer for are too similar to my profession, so I might as well get paid for it. I also want to spend more time with my granddaughter who lives here, as she gets older. And my younger son is going to be going back active duty (in the Army this time) as an officer, when he graduates in May, so there's going to be about 8 more years of traveling to see my other granddaughter. He's put in to be based in either Hawaii or Colorado Springs for the next 4 years, after training, and I am hoping he goes to Colorado, thinking of all of the outdoor activity.