60 Days to Freedom
May 1, 2018
We are under contract to sell the business that has been my husband’s livelihood for the past 40+ years. Life is about to change for both of us in a huge way.
He is busy cleaning out the personal stuff from his office and warehouse, calling customers to pick up winter tires that he has been storing for them and generally reorganizing to make the final inventory go smoothly. One of his employees is looking for the next growth opportunity with another company. Today he will begin training the future owner in preparation for handing over the reins of his business to someone younger and eager to build their own family business. This will be the third family that has owned the store since it opened in 1964. It is a staple of Main Street, the local, independent, family owned tire store. In today’s world they will be competing against another independent tire dealer, one franchise, the region’s largest tire dealer, Costco, Walmart and Amazon to serve the population base of our mid size town. But it all comes down to being the local person that a customer trusts with the safety of their family and the expertise to provide the right product and service.
I am busy writing letters to vendors, customers, and friends, destroying 15 years of business records, dealing with address changes, insurance policies and a never-ending checklist of things to wrap up the sale. My role in the business has been marketing and accounting for the last 13 years. I am happy to give that up and pass the torch to another family. For the past 5+ years I have been doing this work remotely. After pursuing a career opportunity in the region where our retirement home is located my weekend commute to my husband’s business is 3 hours and one mountain pass each way. Giving up that weekly commute is something I am really looking forward to.
One of the biggest challenges will be reintegrating ourselves into living in the same household again. I mean seriously, when two adults live parallel but separately you have some quirks that may require getting used to, compromise and possibly a few arguments when faced on a daily basis. My habit of working until 7pm to fill part of my evening will need to come to an end. And I am really looking forward to bringing some balance to the next phase of our lives. We need to learn to play again, some joint fun and some individual fun, exploring the recreational and social opportunities in our retirement town.
Rebuilding a sense of identity separate from the business that defines your life is important work in and of itself. I think an encore career of finding the things you can be passionate about can provide a structure and purpose to sustain a healthy and engaged retirement life. One project that I took on a couple of years ago is volunteering for a dog rescue organization. It has been rewarding helping to find forever homes for dogs that have had their lives turned upside down due to family circumstances. I envision doing other service projects after leaving my work in a few years.
My 80 year old mother keeps telling me that she doesn’t know how she had time to work because retirement keeps her so busy. She is engaged with her social network of retired coworkers, her walking group, yoga class, church family and the lifelong friends and family that she stays in contact with. My father still works on the family farm that he and my sister live on. At 83 he can work me under the table any day of the week. Without that purpose his life would be limited. They have provided great role models for active retirement in contrast to my husband’s family. His father was stricken with an aggressive form of cancer just a few years after retirement and his mother suffered a series of strokes that left her largely incapacitated, wheelchair bound dependent on an in home caregiver for 6 years before she passed.
When faced with the two options, everyone wishes for the active engaged life, but as my Doc says “you can’t outrun your genes”. What you can do is make healthy, engaged, active living your encore career in retirement. Optimize the time that you have and get every last bit of enjoyment out of life. I am taking our bicycles in for a tune up so that we can enjoy the local cruiser group sponsored by the newest brew pub and the bike touring company. Time to explore this town!
