Friday was a day to celebrate early retirement. Thanks to Sousan who found the groupon to the Cameron Hills Golf Links in King George Virginia, my friend Bob and I were treated to unlimited golf subject only to the constraints of daylight and the scramble outing that clogged the course for a short period in the afternoon. Rising before dawn we ventured south for the opening tee time of 9:10.
It was Bob who first introduced me to this novel concept of early retirement. Most of us think of it as stopping regular work weeks before age 65, with the "goal" of seeing how much before then you can pull that off. But a couple of years ago Bob took the day off to meet me for a round of golf on my birthday and he explained it differently. That day, and every day you take off while still working was early retirement. It's hardly like you are robbing the future. You might even live longer as a result. You'll certainly be more sane.
There's a real sense of accomplishment in this approach. You've reached your "goal" earlier than you would have imagined. Even though just for one day, it's a state of mind you can carry with you every day. And after all, you've only got the day at hand. As for other accomplishments, the competition was better than the golf as a whole. Bob was able to show his mental toughness to sweep the tiebreaking final 9 holes (of 45), and he did manage to summon a shake & bake 95. There was but one birdie - a scarlet tanager.
