Milestones are like mountain peaks - they give us a sense of where we are. We locate ourselves in relationship to them. That is what birthdays, graduations, marriages, moves from place to place, job changes, and deaths are all about. Retirement has to be one of the more significant milestones we can experience in life.

Grit. The word has reappeared lately relating to child rearing and educational philosophy. There is no doubt in my mind that grit is needed in all phases of life including retirement.

Graphs and charts: One dealt with the average life span. I still have 17 years left according to statistical data. Another dealt with how much time we have left after arriving at age 65 to enjoy good health.

Retirement has its moments of isolation and then again it provides us time to reestablish contact with moments and people from our past. There is something about reaching into the past and touching one another that makes retirement so sweet.

People used to work until they died and for the most part live in an extended family structure where some recognition was assured. Today's retired people face a true challenge in this life quest. We must create a means of being recognized.

Is there anything more important than a good story? And I might answer, "Very little". If there is one thing that we retired folks possess more than younger folks is the number of stories we have in our bag. We have had experiences that come only with time.

Is it so important - to be politically astute? We all know the correct answer to that question. Our elementary teachers taught us that democracy demands an educated citizenry. It is easy to see the need.

Neighbors are important and we might all find more comfort in life by engaging those close by rather than spending all of our time reaching across the world via Facebook for friends. It isn’t an all or nothing choice. There is no reason we can’t have both. It just takes a little time and effort.

We try and fail at many things in life and that isn't always bad. But perhaps my old history professor was right in his thoughts concerning why we study history. Best to learn from other people's mistakes or failures.

Those new to retirement and having a tough time figuring out just exactly what they want to do with this new phase of life could do well by asking themselves what they really like to do. And by that I mean things they like to do so much that they lose themselves in it.