“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
As
we contemplated what it means to turn 60, my wife, Lynn, and I decided
to spend a year of travel and reflection. I’ve shared how we came to “Plan B for retirement” (November 2005) and told of “Holy surprises along America’s highways”
(March 2006). Now we’ve taken a look back at those 12 months. Here are
five ideas we offer others seeking new paths for their later years.
|
| After
their year on the road, Mark and Lynn Staples take a walk on the campus
of the Lutheran Seminary at Philadelphia, where Mark has a new
position. The couple say their journey led to many changes in their
approach to retirement. |
• Don’t wait too long to travel or savor relationships.
Tomorrow is promised to no one. Lynn and I drew tremendous satisfaction
from our careers—mine in communications and hers in nursing. We are the
blessed parents of three thriving adult daughters. Together we had
taken care of our mothers at different times during a 19-year period.
But we didn’t want to continue deferring dreams of traveling because of
the press of business and personal responsibilities.
We were
energized in this direction in part from stories Lynn had heard during
years serving as a hospice nurse. People often told her: “We should
have done this. ... We could have done that. ... Now it is too late.”
So
we sold our home and moved into an apartment on the campus of the
Lutheran Seminary at Philadelphia, where, following a year’s leave, I
would return to work in a new position. Some of the equity from our
home financed our leave.
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