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I Asked My Pa [Age 72] What His New Year’s Wishes Are. He Freaked Me Out [For Real].

Retirement and healthy aging woes

Aldric Chen
Change Your Mind Change Your Life
5 min readJan 12, 2025

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A senior taking a photo by the sunset.
Our 3rd phase in life. Photo by Matteo Vistocco on Unsplash

My Pa got frustrated by the house lately.

The kitchen is down for renovation. Termites chewed on the kitchen wood, and worm nests were discovered at the deepest, darkest corners, evading Mum’s tenacious cleaning habits.

Pa was sad when the interior designer said the wood could not be salvaged. With that, $4,000 left his wallet.

The entire cost of the revamp was initially quoted at $14,000. $18,000 was printed on the final bill.

My Dad mourned for his $4,000.

Me? I teared for my $14,000.

Only Mum was pleased.

When one thing led to the other

My Pa is not highly educated.

He left school at 15. Then, finding work and bringing home some money was a matter of livelihood. That year was 1967.

Part-time work and sweat equity labor were everywhere.

This is the beginning of his exposure in life. His wisdom is accumulated through social college. He observes the happenings around him, learns from others other than he was, and then commits to his memory bank.

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Change Your Mind Change Your Life
Change Your Mind Change Your Life

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Aldric Chen
Aldric Chen

Written by Aldric Chen

Singaporean. 24x Top Writer (as of June 2023). Eavesdropper. I capture interesting & uncomfortable real-life retirement / work-life stories the way they are.

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