January 9, 2026

The really sad thing about wisdom is that it's wasted, for the most part, on old people. Not all old people, of course. Some of us are too stupid or stubborn to take life's lessons at face value and use them to propel ourselves forward. Some people lose their natural inquisitiveness, their creativity, somewhere along the line for reasons I don't fully understand. Some people never had it, or suppressed it in order to fit in with the crowd. In any event, some old people are still children at heart, and some are just old. I like to think that I fall in the first category.

When we retired a two years ago, we didn't have any idea what to expect. The last thing I wanted to do is to lapse into one of those lives where you just sit around and drink cheap beer, waiting for the ol' reaper to show up at the door. I have other plans, maybe exciting only to me, but that's what matters most at this point in my life. I don't have any reason to try and impress anyone. I just want to continue to evolve spiritually and intellectually, now unburdened by the 40-hour weekly grind. I want to savor every experience, whether it's watering the plants in my back yard or standing on a mountaintop looking into the face of a setting sun. My mind has been my greatest gift, even though I haven't always thought so. My goal now ifs to just keep feeding it.