Do Something Great Now

Tuesday was my last teacher workday.  Yesterday was my first real day of summer and it was very enjoyable.  Over the last week or so, however, I've come to the realization that it's going to be a boring summer if I don't find something worthwhile to do soon.  I'd like to do some traveling, probably to DC to visit a friend, maybe a few trips to the mountains to do some fly fishing, going down towards Raleigh to hang out with some friends I've made over the past school year.  I'll eventually head home to Alpena, Michigan at some point to see the family and participate in some of the usual summer activities.  We'll be traveling to Nebraska to see my mom's side of the family, then possibly driving way out to the Grand Canyon to go on another two day hike to the bottom and back.  One of my best friends from school will be getting married in mid-August and I'll be a groomsman for that wedding, so I'm also looking forward to that.

There's a big gap between now and all of those planned festivities though, and I don't really know what I'm going to do with my time.  This made me think about what retirement will be like, when I'm old and not as active, probably suffering from knee and back pain, trying to find things to occupy my time.  I'm pretty sure I'll be married and will be spending time with my wife, kids, and possibly their kids, but I feel like most people either spend all of their time and money on themselves when they retire or they find something worthwhile to do that isn't always self-centered.  Some volunteer, some help in churches, some even get a job to keep them busy.

The reason I'm getting to all of this is because if I ever stoop to that level when I'm counting down the days to when I can retire, I'm going to be sorely disappointed to see that I've wasted my life doing just that when I could have been doing something great instead.  What I'm saying is that we all need to do something great now because retirement isn't going to be all that great, really, when you think about it.  Sure, you don't have the stresses of a job, but right now I have the ability to do world-changing things and it would be a shame to waste that time of my life by doing nothing and not giving everything.  Now is the time I can make the biggest difference.

Maybe I am just rambling or I lost my train of thought halfway through that, but I have a different outlook on what my job means with this summer vacation ahead of me.  I think I need to do everything I can now so I can look back when I retire and be satisfied and proud of what I accomplished.