Well, we’re three days away from departure and as usual will leave with mixed emotions.  On the one hand, we can hardly wait for the warmth of hearth and home, family and friends over the holidays; on the other, we will feel a pleasant kind melancholy as the jets begin to whine.  This has been an exciting time and exotic experience which we mustn’t let slip away.

Our camera never seems to be there when we want it most!  On our corner stands a KFC, yes, Kentucky Fried with a smiling Colonel Sanders.  Christmas spirit has not bypassed this KFC.  It’s decorated with snowflakes, and on the steps in 85-degree weather, stands Santa, puffy red suit, white beard and all.  He holds a KFC “bucket” full of candies.  When the stop light turns red and the motorbikes pause momentarily, Santa wades into the idled swarm.  Here is a fabulous photo we need!  He holds out his bucket of treats to the children riding with their parents. “Reach in and get some!”  When the light changes, the children ride away chewing candy and Santa positions himself again on KFC steps, smiles and waves Christmas spirit to the passers-by.  We wished him a merry Christmas last night.

We heard a new take on retirement a few nights ago.  Get this.  We met a young man from East Tennessee, who is teaching in an international school here in HCMC.  Last year he finished a two-year stint in Burma.  And he will teach somewhere else when his contract is up.  He intends to continue permanently on this migratory teaching pattern.  Why?  Well, after graduating from college, he planned first to embark on a standard teaching career, and, in retirement, thought he would start teaching teaching in foreign countries.  But as fast as education is going on-line, he figured today’s opportunities to travel the world and teach students in situ might vanish. 

Think about it: Suppose he’s sitting there, thirty years from now, preparing to retire.  He surveys his options and discovers this avatar usurping his dreams!  So, why not do his career backwards?  Do it now, he figures; do the retirement scenario now!  That’s his take.  He does his dreams today, safe in the moment, immune to future surprises.  And without a retirement plan, there is nothing to lose when the economy craps out. It may not be for everybody, but it is to think about.

It is even to envy…briefly.  Note that he is single and lacks the fun and fulfillment of family and children—hearth and home as said above—that none of us would ever trade.  Like so many people, Judy and I tend to personalize things and consider the “what ifs” vs the realities.  What’s next for us?  Who knows?  We’re not exactly creaky anachronisms, but, while listening to this enthusiastic youth, a fleeting reminder of the calender did pass through us.  Our reality, we well know, is that we are happy and unusually fortunate, and that the rush of time hasn’t pummeled and pilloried our dreams.  They are alive and well.  So, we’ll keep on trucking while the roads are open.

The next destination: HOME!

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