The Retiree’s Path

The morning after the retirement party has its own particular silence. What has been misplaced is not the work itself — it is the structure of identity the work provided.

The marriage that worked perfectly well for thirty-five years of working life began to show different textures in the first year of retirement.

At seventy, Confucius said, he could follow what his heart desired without transgressing what was right. This is not a description of retirement as cessation. It is a description of what becomes possible.