Wondering about retirement

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to another Cecil’s World in Print. The older I get, the more I think about what in the world I’m going to do when or if I retire. I have worked all my life, and I enjoy what I do. I am sure some of you are thinking, “Why in the world would Cecil want to retire?” Don’t get me wrong. I am not ready to retire, but it is something I have started thinking about, especially during the holidays.
During the holidays, it felt like I was retired. I was off 14 days in a row, and it about drove me crazy. Some of my friends tell me when you retire, you are supposed to start enjoying life more. I am not so sure about that. I was bored and had very little to do since my wife had to work. I thought I would be able to sleep late, but I still woke up about 7 a.m. But one morning, however, I did sleep until 8 a.m.
Let’s outline what appears to be a typical day in my life if I retire.
After taking a shower and getting dressed, I head to the Golden Egg restaurant in Surfside Beach for breakfast. This is where many retired people congregate and discuss what is going on in the world and how to solve all the problems.
On this particular day, a group of men were discussing the presidential candidates. After an in-depth discussion about the election, I took a survey of the nine men.
Five said they were voting for Huckabee, one for Hillary and the other three would not say. Some of these gentlemen should run for political office because they have some great ideas on how to run this country. This is good for about two hours of my morning.
Now what do I do? I head back to the house and check my e-mail on the computer and talk to a few people online.
I then watch television for an hour and walk around the neighborhood visiting friends. I think the key to retirement is having something to do to keep you busy so you won’t go crazy.
It’s now lunchtime, and, since my wife is working, I thought I would surprise her and take her to lunch (making a few brownie points with the wife). Her first question to me is, “Have you enjoyed your time off?” Of course, I smiled and said, “Oh, yeah.” She knew I was not telling the whole truth. I have enjoyed it, but I am bored and ready to go back to work. It’s hard to take five weeks of vacation and nine holidays each year.
I then watched “Gunsmoke” and Gene Autry, and it’s now 4:30 p.m. It was time for my afternoon walk. I walk a mile and a half every day, and this is really helping me shed a few pounds. Can you believe I have lost 26 pounds so far and four inches in my waist? My wife loves being on vacation, and she told me she would have no problem taking the five weeks of vacation and nine holidays I have each year.
How do you know when it’s time to retire? I cannot answer that question. I really think retirement can be fun, but there are a few things you need to do: Set a goal, know your retirement needs, find out about your Social Security and, the biggest thing of all, I think, is to stay active.
Now that I have written about retirement, I am through with it for now. Boy, I’m glad I am back to work. That’s it for another Cecil’s World in Print.
I’ll see you next week, right here in the Morning News, The Horry Independent, Carolina Forest Chronicle and on the tube.

— Cecil Chandler is a veteran reporter at WBTW News13. His column appears Mondays in the Morning News.