Every time I go to Aldo’s Harbor Restaurant in Santa Cruz I think about Mitchel and his mouse-breath.
In high school, my friends and I lazed away many summer days on the beaches of Santa Cruz. A quick trip over the hill had us escaping the summer heat of San Jose to the costal breezes of our own teenage playground.
Freedom. Summer. Carefree days.
But back to Mitchel and his mouse-breath. Well, first to Steve. Steve was my boyfriend as we headed into summer break junior year. That day, Steve took me to Aldo’s for lunch before we headed to the beach. As usual, Steve was keeping me in stitches with his humor, basically a stand-up act about why jetties are called jetties, when down the jetty bounded a white puff-ball of a puppy, Mitchel. Mitchel’s owner was chasing him down toward the beach, “Mitchel, drop it! Drop it Mitchel! Mitchel drop that mouse!”
Mitchel did drop it, a dead mouse, right in front of Steve and me. Steve looked at the dead mouse, looked at me, and said in that voice reserved for babies and puppies, “Oh no, Mitchel has moosey breef!”
Aldo’s and Seabright Beach remain symbols of freedom for me. Which is why I had my new boyfriend, ok, my husband of 20 years, take me there on my first official day of re-retirement. Fried calamari, a Sierra Nevada, and a view of the harbor provided the perfect backdrop for re-entry into the world of leisure.
Freedom. Summer. Carefree days.
Related Posts:
Mozart, Retirement, and Having My Whole Life Out in Front of Me
Picturing Retirement: Sailing Back into Full-Time Retirement
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Welcome back to where you've been striving all these years to be.....!
The real question however is why'd you leave in the first place? I seem to recall in your post, "the half million dollar question", that you wouldn't leave the cocoon of early retirement even for that handsome sum....So I hope they paid you well, and that you have some fun plans for your unanticipated new stash.....?
Posted by: New at this | August 04, 2012 at 02:48 PM
@New, you are always one step ahead of me! Next post I was going exactly there. (Well almost exactly there.)
Posted by: Retired Syd | August 04, 2012 at 05:23 PM
I think the key here is that you, Syd, have the financial independence to call the shots in your own life. Whether you choose to return to work on occasion, spend hours doing volunteer work, ordays basking in the sun, you, and no one else, controls your own destiny.
Which is exactly what financial independence is all about.
Posted by: Tamara | August 05, 2012 at 10:56 AM
Tamara: Amen sista!
Posted by: Retired Syd | August 05, 2012 at 06:26 PM
It looks like you have found the right life style. Have fun!
Posted by: Laraine Walker | August 06, 2012 at 09:04 AM