Yesterday we visited with some long-time friends in Connecticut. We hadn't seen them for more than two years, so we had a lot of catching up to do - our families, our work, our selves. It was good to see them. We have the ability to pick up our conversations pretty much in mid-sentence. The hours passed quickly.

Among other things, we wandered around the themes of our own retirement and aging. What will be our next act? Or, more importantly, what will be our next acts? Retirement will be a major transition in our lives but it probably won't be our last one. Our lives will continue to evolve, just like they do now, based on our own abilities, the needs of those we love, and circumstances that catch us by surprise. Retirement is a while yet, 10 years or so, plus or minus, depending on the behavior of our presidents and of the stock markets.

A friend once said, "Want to know how to make God laugh? Tell Him your plans for the future."

It's important to take this stuff seriously, but not too seriously. We want to be as prepared as we can be so that we don't wind up, at 85, eating cat food from cans and living out of the back of a VW Microbus. At the same point, though, we (I) have to approach this with humility. It's been said that every generation believes that it invented sex. The baby boomers, some of us anyway, (me), behave like we're inventing aging and retirement.