I’m pretty sure that both my parents are about to retire. They haven’t announced as much yet, but I know dad’s been keen to throw in the towel for ages – the hospital admin sounds like a nightmare. Mum doesn’t seem to be faring much better, with the commute to her clinic becoming longer by the day. Besides, I can tell that they’re both desperate to put their motor-home to good use. Mum’s always sending me links for streaming episodes of travel shows, all excited about some country town or another that’s been newly identified as an up-and-coming destination.
I sort of want to tell them to just get one with it because they’re not getting any younger, but maybe that’d come across as a bit harsh. Besides, what do I know about retiring? I’m sure it’s quite a process, and a decision that could prove hard to backtrack on if you realised you’d gone there too soon. Still, that gorgeous motor-home is just sitting there in their driveway collecting cobwebs, although dad did mention the other week that he’d been looking at getting a second-hand ute and modifying it to pull the beast.
My ears pricked up at that, because it makes it sound like they’re actually going to use the motor-home. One doesn’t tend to flip through catalogues of 4×4 aluminium ute canopies unless they’re seriously thinking of doing an off-road driving trip, do they? I guess that doesn’t necessarily add up to retirement plans, but there’s a link there for sure. Maybe I’ll egg dad on by doing some research into custom ute trays. Melbourne tradies and 4WD, enthusiasts, where’s the best place to start? Send me your recommendations.
This whole thing of kids eagerly waiting for their folks to retire must be a bit of pressure from the latter’s perspective. I want it to be known that it has nothing to do with thinking they’re ‘done’; if anything, it’s about wanting them to blast off into embracing life using the resources they’ve worked so hard to accumulate.