A friend gave me a bottle of wine maybe 50 years ago. It is really good wine he said. And then added, "If you open it when you have a good friend over it will be all the better". How true.

In the younger phase we are always being asked what we are going to do in life. The question usually refers to a career plan. In the last half or so of life we are usually asked what we are going to do in retirement. Many of us never prepare. We just launched into it.

How do we determine truth from fiction? We still have some people among us who are "Flat-Earthers". When it comes to politics, well, we have people telling us everything. Who are you supposed to believe?

I pleaded the case for history. I argued that only by studying the successes and failures of the past can we hope to rise above the past and avoid the pitfalls that have entrapped our ancestors. I used the old map analogy.

Remember that movie in the 60s:The Flim Flam Man.What I recall is his basic philosophy that you can’t cheat an honest man. He always thought that the way you take advantage of someone is if they think they are getting a good deal. Like they think they are beating system also. That opens them up.

There seem to be so many advantages of aging that I don’t know where to start. But one that jumped out to me as most important was the ability to be a better judge of character.

"It is pancreatic cancer" a doctor recently told a fellow watercolorist who is an email friend of my wife. "One year" followed the announcement of pancreatic cancer: one year. How would it feel to get that kind of prognosis? It can happen. It can happen tomorrow.

According to the cult of happiness the last phase to be practiced is reflection. We look back and consider what we have done or what has happened and hopefully enjoy the memories. We just completed a road trip and we have reached the stage of reflection.

We decided to get an early start so that we might take advantage of the daylight hours. We do not like nor plan to be driving after dark. We want to see where we are going. We aimed for 8 am and were on the road by 8:15. The first problem occurred 5 minutes from home when I discovered I had forgotten my phone.

I am not trying to talk you into one way of road tripping or another. I just want to stimulate thinking about various ways to go.

When we drive out we always feel like we have seen Wallace, Idaho; Tonopah, Nevada; Arcadia, California; or wherever we might be. After all, that is why we are traveling.

We always need to have something out in front of us to pursue. I don't want to argue with that but I do want to pause for a few minutes and think about it. That is what this podcast is all about: pausing to consider what it is we are doing with our life.

What would we do if we retired? Everyone told us we were too young to retire. We had to work – it was a given. But after doing the math we found we did not need to work at a job. Feeling guilty about retiring never entered the picture.

I think of retired people I know who love to watch birds. They get outside; fair or foul. They travel around the world to see different species. They send money to organizations to help protect birds or bird habitat. Retirement would be well spent if one were to focus on birds.

Health decisions seem to mount as we move towards and into retirement. What to do? Where do we turn for advice? Most of the time, we can readily agree with our doctor. Other times, it just doesn’t feel right. We want a second opinion.

I know some people who say they don’t know what they would do if they were retired. My experience tells me that you will, or can be, very busy. Busy, but busy doing exactly what you want to.

I remember deciding to retire and told my wife that I would always drop her a card from exotic destinations all over the world. She didn’t see the humor. She knew that there might be a chance that I would do that very thing. The day I retired - she retired.

My wife and I found that there is another choice; other than moving or staying. You can stay and move at the same time. No, it doesn’t seem to logically follow, but it is true. Here is what we did.

One of the early decisions one can make when retiring is where to live. You are no longer bound by your job to live in one particular place. For the first time in your life you can really choose where to live.

On the last podcast I set out Spinoza's thoughts concerning happiness as a possible rule to follow. Recall that Spinoza advised us to realize that happiness lies in the movement from a state of lesser perfection to yet that of a greater one.

This is a revisited performance of the second episode ever aired on this podcast entitled "What Now". I have made some changes that might better clarify and illustrate the topic. "What Now" of course relates to retiring and what comes after that. Some of us have big dreams.

This past week I came across an article about two folks - age 71 and 68 - who sold their house, sold their worldly possessions and bought a ticket to ride. They have decided to live house free during their retirement years.

When should I retire is a question we all consider if we are lucky. I wrote about this topic in the very first podcast of Retirement Talk. It seemed fitting. That was 15 years ago. I'm wondering If my thinking may have changed. I hope I've learned something during this period.

Of course we do eat to live but many of us find that living to eat certainly has attraction. We do this for no other reason than enjoyment. It is hard to find fault. We just have to remember to control the quantity.

Does music come to mean something else when one retires or moves into the later stages of life? Perhaps Nietzsche’s most acceptable aphorism was: "Without music, life would be a mistake."

We grandparents, we elders, pass on the responsibility of learning to another generation and hope for the best. We hope we have done our job in an effective fashion. One last challenge lies ahead. We have to let go.

When I stepped into the world of retirement I never thought I was leaving the real world. Now it seems like I see something, read something or hear of something of which I know nothing every day. I’m completely in the dark today about crypto-currancy. Also tick-tock, Instagram, snap-chat and all sorts of other stuff.

Sometimes we just get too busy doing things that we forget to think. Not that I am against doing things. I like to be busy. But not busy all the time and not busy without giving much thought as to why I am doing whatever I am doing.

There is something about ritual ceremonies that glue us all together. I had thought it was just a couple of hours to sit through and then present them with a gift and that would be it. But that wasn't the case.

For some reason the whole idea of becoming irresponsible is so very attractive to me. Now I just have to think of something that might fill the bill.

How many times a day does one have to be informed of the stock market report or the weather forecast? Seems like once a day might be plenty. It is hard to stay focused on enjoying the birds in the sky or the smell of the flowers when one's attention is constantly being jerked about.

Energy is a precious commodity. We want to put one step in front of the other. The tank will eventually run dry but if there is a way to get a refill or plug any leaks we want to take advantage.

Life continues to offer us new experiences. They come if we are willing to take a bit of a risk and accept them. It is much safer to just keep life on an even keel. New ventures require new efforts and thoughts. Reconnecting to old friends may be very well worth the effort.

I love our days in the city. You don't have to go far to feel like an explorer. There is more novelty and more surprises waiting just around the corner. It is this daily discovery that keeps me smiling.

It has been the basic premise of these podcasts that there is more to life than money. Thinking carefully about what we are doing with our limited time seems much more important.

This is the second part in a series concerning a trip to Puerto Vallarta and thoughts of moving south for retirement. Here are two examples of folks that did just that.

Why,you might ask, am I going into such detail for you. It is our response to your recent podcast topic. In January you spoke of "Finding Meaning in Retirement". Here is the story of one podcast listener.

It is important to share information from one generation to the other. History gives stability and a sense of identity to children. This stability and sense of self control helps establish a positive psychological grounding that enables children to face realities of life.

Considering the end of one's life is not a pleasant subject. But considering the little known information that is in direct opposition to reality is even more unpleasant. This is one place where it might pay off to plan ahead and be very proactive.

I have always believed that I did take the road less traveled by - and that it did make all the difference. But maybe I have been deluding myself. And you?

We know when we are spinning our wheels. We know when nothing is happening in our lives. We know we need a change. Perhaps the problem isn't our being stuck, The problem is getting unstuck. Deciding what to do? Which way to turn?

Canada is on to something with making Family Day a national holiday. It seems so appropriate and filled with meaning. Hopefully it will prompt many phone calls, trips or letters.

Retirement introduces a special element to our reading life. We can feast over the entire reading realm. There are no limitations; sort of like our earliest experiences. We can read for pleasure alone.

Dealing with regrets is a topic that was suggested to me by a loyal listener. I thought I could deal with it but it is proving more difficult than I could imagine. I like to look at the present and the future. Dreams seem to be about the only time mistakes of the past surface.

We got an email from a friend a few years ago when he was celebrating his 88th birthday in Sarasota, Florida. "Going to dinner with my granddaughter and her Dad. Got myself a massage and just got home from my playwriting class. Busy day for an 88 year old."

We know having meaning in our lives is important but sometimes we have trouble finding it. Many times It may be more of a problem of recognizing it. We may already have found meaning in our life and just not recognize it as such.

We tend to develop daily routines. Aristotle knew that and advised us to take care with the routines that we establish. We are habitual creatures, he said. He claimed that we are good people because we have developed good habits. I believe that. I know that I'm a creature of habit.

Yes, we retire. The parents, teachers, bosses and our own children no longer control us and they no longer give meaning to our lives. We are on our own. Now we must give meaning to our own lives.

Kids fall down and skin their knees. Football players fall down and bounce up - usually. My mother fell down at age 89 and never regained her health. Her fall led to surgery and then the nursing home and then the grave. We need to be a bit more careful about falling as we grow older.

Detail has never been my forte. Not in anything. As a member of the retirement community I find it most challenging and interesting to try to change this age old habit. Old habits become part and parcel of who we are but that doesn't mean that they have to stay.