I have received awards, recognitions and kind introductions over the years, but I suspect this simple handwritten note will outlast most of them. It came from an eighty-six-year-old woman who had already walked the road I am only beginning to explore.
She wasn't congratulating me for publishing a book. She was telling me I had understood something true about retirement. In many ways, that was the greatest affirmation I could have received.
If these essays can help someone pause, think differently, or feel understood during this season of life, then they have accomplished exactly what I hoped they would. That little note now serves as a quiet reminder that conversations about retirement are not only needed—they are welcomed.
