Last week as I was flying across the country, I sat next to a man working on his computer. He was an older, dignified gentleman who walked on board with a cane and a computer.

As they were serving our drinks we got to talking. The man manages a sales force for a computer company. This was his first trip back….from retirement. He is 72 years old. Here is his story.

Michael retired two years ago as a CFO for another company. He played golf. He and his wife traveled the world until he broke his hip. It was while he was recovering from hip replacement surgery that his wife asked Michael, “When will you go back to work?”

He does not need the money. Michael started to think about what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. It was not golf, gardening or panning for gold. He said, “Look at Grandma Moses. She started painting at age 77 and continued until her death at the age of 101!”

Michael realized he missed the rush of doing the deal. He loves being out with people and having those “power” lunches. He realized that living a happy and fulfilled life is a goal. Retirement may be one way of doing that, but there are many others.

He called some of his connections from his past life and found this management position with the computer company.

“I feel like I have been reborn,” Michael said and it showed. It looked like he was truly enjoying himself.

Michael’s parting words were cute and relevant for those out there who want to work till the day they die. “People should not retire just because society tells them to. Sure, it is great for some, but I gotta a lot of love and livin to do.” And with that, he went back to work!

There is a message here for all of us. We should be in charge of our own destiny, our own financial, physical and emotional well being. It is up to you and me as individuals to achieve the dreams we set out for ourselves. No one else is responsible for our future but us. When we can determine our fate as to what we want to do with the rest of our lives, it makes the planning much easier and life more enjoyable!

This entry was posted on Monday, August 25th, 2008 at 6:00 am and is filed under General Interests. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.