Designing your life

I wonder how many folks realize that your retirement can be a time to design your life just the way you want to live it. OK, dire economic times can have an impact, but those of us who long ago decided to live within our means don't run into that so much.

When we were kids, the life ahead was an open book, and we thought we could do exactly what we planned to do. As teens, we learned more about the real world, and it's limits. As adults, with mortages and families, the world sometimes became brutally clear.

So, then, retirement, and the chance to write that novel or dance that dance, or join the Peace Corps and give back. So freeing!