It Didn’t Happen As I Had Planned
A sad circumstance brought me to semi-retirement
Working hard, but still enjoying life, is in my DNA. Starting from the time I was 10 years old, when I mowed lawns, babysat and started a newspaper route, I have worked my entire life. Even while in high school, college and law school, I worked at least part-time, and I plowed through those school years as quickly as I could to start my career as an attorney, now nearing 48 years long.
But it’s not like retirement didn’t have an appeal. My wife, Penelope, retired from her job in high-tech management in 2003, and I often expressed to her my envy and my hope that someday we would be over that hump of long-term financial security so that we could both enjoy the leisure life of fun and world travel.
In fact, we even had a plan of sorts. In 2018, I was simultaneously working full-time in my law practice, and also serving as District Governor of my Rotary District. This was a demanding undertaking, and I promised Penny that as soon as my Rotary gig was completed in July, 2019, I would start the glide path to reducing and eventually retiring from my law practice.
But then fate intervened. In April, 2019, Penny was very suddenly and unexpectedly diagnosed with terminal gallbladder cancer. We were told that she had only months to live. There would be no “glide path” to reducing my work commitment. As quickly as I could, I handed off pending litigation matters to other attorneys to make myself available for Penny’s care, transportation and medical needs. I quickly moved my practice from busy downtown San Jose to a small office only half a mile from our home in Los Gatos.
Penny’s oncologists advised that while we were still vigorous and relatively healthy, to do all of those things that we ever looked forward to doing, and this was what we intended to do. However, her chemo treatments were limiting, and not long after, her energy level began declining to the point that those long-dreamed-of world travels were simply not possible. And then, that August, much sooner than we ever thought possible, it was over. Penny was gone, and I was alone.
For a long while, grief took center stage, and I continued my half-time law practice handling transactional matters. But as I eventually got back to looking hopefully toward the future, and as I found a new relationship, I discovered that working part-time, with the flexibility to be away from the office for weeks at a time, was satisfying in several ways. The income from working was much less, but with correspondingly lower overhead, it greatly reduced the need to begin taking withdrawals from retirement savings. Also, legal work and associating with colleagues keeps my mind very young and active, and satisfies my inherent need to be productive.
I consider myself to be especially fortunate to have a career that can be tailored quite precisely to the timetable and intensity that works best with my other life pursuits. When I will decide to retire my law license entirely remains to be seen, but it is definitely not on the near horizon.
