Your story – Dennis

I turned 72 this year, so I qualify for the demographic of Baby Boomer and I successfully survived the volatile 60s and 70s. Like most of you, during my college days and onto my graduate studies I watched seemingly endless campus protests and sometimes violent reaction of demonstrators and police.

Surviving all that, relatively in tack, I travelled as far as Australia and had several career changes including teaching, commercial real estate, working with delinquent youths and a couple medically related positions. Now I live in a small mountain community in western North Carolina and care take some vacation homes during the winter months when the owners are back in their warmer climes.

I am close with my two brothers, although many miles separate us. I am happily married to my second wife and have been for 35 years. Our grandchildren live on the west coast so we don’t get to see them in person, but we stay in touch electronically.

When I was employed full time, I never considered retirement. I thought that I would always be busy doing something, maybe even volunteering at a school or hospital. Now that my health and energy are winding down, I suppose that I’ll turn my business over to someone who wants to have a good start and probably look to those volunteer opportunities. I may also attend some classes at the nearby university.

I always thought that somehow I would retire with enough financial resources to be able to support us, but the recession of 2008 wiped out our savings and the position I had at that time. That made me look into the opportunities in the community in which we lived. Thus starting my caretaking service. Even before the recession, I thought that I was well received by my staff and coworkers and never felt resented because of my age or my inability to navigate the electronic and informational age as well as the most naïve ten year old.

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