Road in Retirement

Family Dynamics Everyone’s family dynamic and upbringing is different; leading to varied relational experiences. Some of us are extremely close and do all sorts of family activities with parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins, nieces, nephews, and in-laws. Others of us, for whatever reason are just not close with immediate family or distant relatives. And still others have no family! I am not writing a treatise on family dynamics here, but I have connected with siblings and close relatives more than ever later here in life; now on my road in retirement with Parkinson’s (PD). Maybe retirement is designed as a great opportunity to “re-engage” with family. The Bible and Families I assume that most planned family gatherings are like ours, never a dull moment with tons of loquacious banter and storytelling. The bible records many genuine family discussions. Here are a few that come to mind, some often very descriptive and honest:  “Where is Abel your brother?”  “How should I know...

Challenges of Distance: Mobility My Road in Retirement has become a gigantic challenge of distance; with respect to mobility and friendships. First, wheels. I have been harping on Chris to get us an accessible van for weeks and finally, we actually saw one; like discovering bigfoot is real. It was a God thing: “Hey, maybe there is a dealership here in Central Wisconsin that sells these vans,” as we traveled back to North Dakota recently (Chris family visit). And sure enough, literally 30 minutes later we rolled my wheelchair (WC) into a showroom to learn about a possible future purchase. The market for vans with WC ramps is huge but disparate; because they are scattered across the country and sold by broker houses mostly. An accessible van allows my WC to glide through a sliding side door via a foldout ramp and proceed directly into the front passenger seat. We need this mobility more than ever to drive my road in retirement.  Challenges of Distance: Friendships Four decades ago, w...