Good question saltydog. My Grandfather had worked most of his life, way past the given retirement age. He was a police officer until 1937, compulsory retired at fifty-five. He joined what was then called, The League of Commissionaires, a branch of the military for retired servicemen, a forerunner to today's security companies. He was retired from the Commissionaires at seventy-seven for his own safety.
A keen gardener, Grandfather not only kept his own garden immaculate but he did a few hours for a number of neighbours too. At the age of eighty-five a former police colleague told him that he shouldn't be doing all that labouring at his age, I'm sure that was meant as well intended advice, but it didn't work out like that. Grandfather gave up the gardening and retired to his armchair to wait for God.
He lived for another eleven years, sadly he didn't know much about the last ten. Without the incentive that work gave him he lost all motivation which caused him to lose the plot. Dementia set in and the big, warmhearted man that I knew was a shell of his former self. Grandfather's fate I shall do all I can to avoid. Work stimulates me, I shall keep going for as long as my body permits.
.I have recently handed over the keys of one business to someone else and am pursuing an entirely different path. Right now however, I am having a very long holiday, enjoying my home etc. I meditate and do some yoga.
