Joyce Wayne: Retirement Matters

The report illustrated that the entire concept of retirement has changed. Our parents considered retirement as a time to stop working and to wind down their activities. It’s the opposite today. We see our retirement years –the New Retirement– as brimming with potential, as having more freedom – freedom from various work and family responsibilities, and freedom to explore new options and pursue new interests.

After staying at home for 16 months, I became accustomed to this other routine. I slept in every morning, stayed up very late every night, and depended on grocery or restaurant curbside pick-up for food and meals. In certain ways, I became leery of other people. All this wearing of masks and keeping six feet from others helps us to stay healthy. Still, it does have surprising psychological effects too. Now, like me, you might be thinking of expanding the reach of your daily activities, and you’re not precisely certain how to do that. If you’re single and living on your own, you might be considering jumping back into the dating pool.

As increasing numbers of Canadians line up to receive a second jab and more older Canadians have already been double vaccinated, the time has come to emerge from our pandemic caves. After 16 months of social isolation and near-total reliance on digital media to connect with others, our moment has arrived. As an organized person, who relies on my calendar and checks it frequently throughout the day, I’m beginning to plan. For me, planning is half the fun of doing. If the data is correct, at two to three weeks out from my second shot, I’ll be able to do much more than I can today.

There are trailblazers, and then there is Sue Pimento. In August 2005, at the age of 49, Sue married her partner Bonnie. That was only 1 month and 4 days after same-sex marriage became legal in Canada.

Friendship, both intimate and casual, plays a significant role in overcoming loneliness and illness as we age. The famous most extended longitudinal study of human development, the Harvard Study of Adult Development, which began in 1938 and continued for more than 75 years, explored these basic questions.

Eastwood, who’s enjoyed working with the team at HomeEquity Bank, exclaims, “I am Doris, a woman who knows what she’s doing!” Today Eastwood lives in her own home, a lovely two-bedroom that she’s owned since 1986. On top of acting, she paints and sketches in her home-based artist’s studio and enjoys the company of friends, old and new. She closes our interview by saying, “There’s no room for complacency.”

Aging in place is our number one choice for good reason. Canada’s National Research Council has implemented the Aging in Place Challenge Program, which supports a sustainable model for long term care by shifting the focus toward preventive home and community based care based on four pillars: safety, health, connections and standards.

For so many these days, a one-career life is no longer the norm. Many older Canadians who have retired —or been retired —retain loads of energy and are searching for something to do.

The challenge facing Canada is to try to ensure that the doses of COVID-19 fighting vaccines arrive in the country according to schedule and that the provinces distribute them quickly and efficiently. If so, Canadians could be looking at a much brighter summer than expected.

On that 1966 Saturday night in Detroit, gas was 39 cents a gallon, a pack of cigarettes about double. A Coney Island hotdog (a downtown Detroit specialty) covered with chili sauce, yellow mustard and chopped onions was less than three bucks. Both cities, Windsor and Detroit, were booming, riding the immense wave of the post-World War II culture based on fast cars, endless cheap oil reserves, big unions, burgeoning wages and the opportunity to make good if you worked hard and played fair.