I’m 75 and twice retired: once as a naval officer, and once as a rabbi. Of course, you never really fully retire as a rabbi—you just leave the congregational aspects behind. That leaves me time for study, polishing my pipes, the fun reading I always meant to get around to, but never did, and so forth. One of the really fun aspects: I’ve always had truly dreadful penmanship. In fact, the word “penmanship” was an oxymoron when it came to my handwriting. So, I acquired a book called “Write Now,” which taught me to write in a fairly attractive script, truly for true first time in my life. My wife gave me a gift of a beautiful fountain pen, and that was the beginning of a collection of close to one hundred pens of varying types, qualities, etc. I enjoy writing letters by hand and getting back the expressions of delight from people who have received a handwritten letter in this digital age. I’m involved with INCOWRIMO, an international program whose members write a handwritten letter every day during the month of February. Talk about fun! Along the way I’ve also acquired a collection of different inks, and some knowledge about pens, the way they work, construction, etc. It’s been a blast all the way. In fact, these days I’m so busy that I wonder how I ever had time for work.
Funny thing about this retirement gig: I was talking to a young cousin, aged all of 16, who told me how lucky I was, to be able to live, not have to work, etc., and she concluded with, “Gee, I wish I could do that.” And I told her: “Hayley, you can. It’s a piece of cake. Here’s how—I earned it. I worked for fifty years, and what I’ve got now is the reward for all that. So all you need to do is work real hard for the next fifty years and you can have it too.” Ah, the foolishness of their young!
