There is a real reason why I want to retire early within three years and yesterday was an example why. As a family we didn’t do anything special. We took a couple of bottles of water and headed down to the beach, the rock beach. It is the beach that is not frequented by tourists because there are no vendors certainly no beautiful sandy beach that stretches and stretches far into the lake. Instead you have a few feathers, a broken beer bottle or two, a beautiful boardwalk and lots and lots of little rocks.
I love the rock beach and not because I don’t like people, but it is nice once in a while on a beautiful day to find a little place where not too many people care to tread.
I didn’t do anything particularly exciting. I sat and watched at the calming waves coming to shore one after the other. I enjoyed the beautiful sunshine. I watched my son and daughter play in the water. I was also seduced into helping my daughter look for some sea glass.
Sea glass sounds magical to a child but I know its just broken pieces of glass left behind by some drunk teenager, that were never cleaned up, and over time, battered by the water and the rocks, they become smooth and a treasure to be hunted for.
Ok. Maybe now that I think about it Sea Glass is magical. Looking for something ordinary that was once abandoned in order to treasure it is right out of a great motivational book.
I loved looking for Sea Glass. There was something wonderful about digging with my bare hands through the tiny little rocks. Something wonderful about my hands getting dry and once in a while seeing a smile on my daughters face when our dig was successful.
This is why I have to retire. You miss so much when you are stuck at work on someone else’s terms. But don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining. I am so very grateful to have been given the opportunity to be educated and given the responsibility and joy to teach young minds. I am however at a different place now. I want to live more fully. I don’t want to be stuck in portable four from 8am til the bell rings at two oh five. I don’t want to drive one hour each way.
I want to freedom, if I choose, to put my hands in the sand, and to be here or there and nowhere for that matter.
I am going to continue working really hard at becoming a successful internationally known writer and photographer. Yesterday was a reminder of why.
Photo credit: https://unsplash.com/@alexread
