I left at 54, 30 years as a firefighter. I was 'behind' a guy who was 3 yrs. my junior and the Chief Training Officer. He was unbearable. It's funny, I hadn't seen him in years and ran into him at the grocery store just this morning. Now there is a man who ostracized his family, co-workers, and friends. A true misogynist, only thing he's got is a bigger pension that I. He took 2 months a year off so I'd have to budget and do his job, but he never said a word, I'd be called to a budget submission, nothing done, and then he dumped on me later. I walked out, and management was a afraid of my going after them so they promoted me for the last 6 months and I rode out on a desk.

Still I've got a great pension, a wonderful family, and regrettably too many friends who are dying early. It's a speed bump right now, my wife is a Senior Manager and up to be a Corporate Director soon, with 7 wks vacation a year and nice bonuses.

But all the cash in the world is superfluous. I did have charge of the forensic darkroom and loved photography, no corpses please. So I've gone back into that in a big way, bought a rusty pickup truck for the dog and I, and wish my wife didn't work almost every day, and from 6:30 to 6:30 most days. (It's almost noon on Sunday and there she is again.)

Big family meal here today, 10 people, prime rib, fancy salads, and I'll bake rolls and bread too.

My Mom and Dad are 86, and my Mom gets out every Sunday to come here with my Dad. I can only give back for all they did.

Going to England and France in May, my youngest lives in Canterbury, and we will take them to France with us for a week. (Her 'beau', husband, what ever.

And in 3 weeks a week in the sun in Cuba. 3 Days in Havana. Nice cars!

Every day extra is a bonus. Still playing the organ/keyboards for Masonic meetings, but some stuff I'd like to do is on hold, too many disabilities.

I'm now 63, getting extra cash from the Canada Pension, another boost at 65.
My wife's parents own a big chunk of land 60 feet from a huge diamond drill hole with 10 years ago was called 'marginally viable open pit mine'. They would need the 'family' land. My kids may end up with quite the bonus.

My oldest lives close by, PHd in Anthropology, good for lots of discussions.
My 2nd Son is in Toronto, corporate job with Interac banking.
My 3rd Son is close by, he's a manager in a large call centre.

What I really need to do is divest myself of this big old house soon. 4 rooms I never use unless my grandson is over for the night.

The property management I was doing after retirement has slowed down. I still run one big building for a company from Niagara, but it's no work to speak of anymore, but does throw in some 'fun money'.

Every person is different. I know people who love work so much nothing else counts much. My wife is not like that, but the growth level of her company keeps them expanding, but not fast enough to keep people trained. Adding 10 fitness clubs a month over the last 20 months is taking a toll on her, she does all the management for the income side. Some may remember I owned that company, (the computerized management of fitness club members), and they still run my software for banking. I sold out in '96, and could have been well off, but my firefighting job seemed more important than programming.

You might say I sold my wife with the business. But we Skype back and forth most days.

I'm looking forward to spring, enough snow for me!

My grandson is almost 4, and to walk 3 blocks to the nature trail yesterday took an hour. I forgot that a 4 yr. old has to climb every 'mountain', flop on every pile of snow, eat some, yell "Look Papa John I'm on the mountain now!" while standing on the 4 foot pile of snow the plow pushed up. On to the next one. You can smile a lot then. And when he stood at the foot of out bed on Saturday morning at 6 a.m. with the dog, and the 2 of them ended up getting under the covers to discuss dinosaurs, why dogs sniff, what the squirrels eat and how nuts might taste, why birds don't fly up side down, and other good stuff, hey, all is well.

I think I need to write a time table and peel some spuds now, but heck the dog is sleeping on my foot, the birds are fighting at the feeder out the window, and I have emails to reply to soon.

All said, I audited another University music course this fall, and have applied to study French and History at the local university, another thing to keep my mind working hard and make me forget the crazy neuropathy that came with chemo.

Keep well, and find good stuff every day, smile, and hit the dissenters with your cane! Or threaten...;)

John Conley
Musica est vita