Idyllic Times
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My Siblings: Luke, Lucy, Ann, Sara and me circa 1962
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Fish Report readers; here’s your opportunity to step back in time and get a sense for what it was like to live in the 1950’s & 60’s. View this short video and then we’ll discuss growing up back then. I’ll also share how those times compare to other periods in my life.
Some readers may think I must be living in the past to always blog about those so called "idyllic times”. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am very much a "carpe diem" kind of person, living in the present, while still planning for the future and learning from the past. Having taken two years of Latin back in high school, I vividly recall phrases like “carpe diem” (seize the day”) and “finis origine pendet” (the end depends upon the beginning), which gets to the root of my perspective on life. This short segment by Robins Williams in the movie Dead Poet’s Society says it all.
The only reason I got into this blog gig in the first place is because Fish Report articles would bring back memories that I would occasionally share with Craig. He kept encouraging me to contribute in some way to Fish Report, and in July, 2015, I posted my first blog. While Fish Report Live just celebrated its 250th episode over 8 years, soon my 200th blogpost over 4 years will enter cyberspace. See them all at this link!
The two happiest periods of my life were in my youngster years and now in retirement. In between was a challenge, as there was never enough time or money and too much stress to really enjoy life, relatively speaking. Work demands squeezed out much time for family and self-fulfillment, which led to concealed frustration. Brought up by parents who survived the Great Depression and WWII, we were ingrained to save our money, so we literally lived on our original starting salaries, as almost every raise over 35 years of work was directed towards a 401k, IRA or invested in our home. As I rose up the management ranks at Ford, the work stress was causing my health to deteriorate as I could feel myself prematurely aging, or so I thought.
No, it wasn’t a midlife crisis. Instead it was stress from another crisis - the Arab Oil Embargo that occurred in October, 1973. Unlike today, at that time, the US was almost totally dependent on cheap foreign oil from the Middle East. After the Yom Kipper War that same month, the defeated coalition of Arab countries retaliated by embargoing oil from being shipped to those countries like the US that had supported victorious Israel during this short war. Gas prices skyrocketed overnight and long lines formed at gas stations.
About the same time, I was promoted from the engineering ranks at Ford into management just as it became quickly apparent that the US auto industry had to totally re-engineer their entire fleet to dramatically improve fuel economy. The auto industry to this day is still reacting to this single incident, which also instigated acts of terror by the oil producing countries since it was proven they couldn’t win an outright war. Plus, it’s the reason Iran still wants to develop nuclear weapons.
That all being said, for the most part, I enjoyed every minute of my working career, doing exactly what I had set out to do and accomplish. Working at Ford made me feel part of the extended Ford family and to this day, the company stays very engaged with its employees and retirees.
However, thanks to our disciplined savings strategy, I was able to retire from Ford on the very first day eligible. The perceived health problems suddenly disappeared (except the gray hair!), my schedule freed up and I could enjoy more family time and satisfying activities. Retirement also allowed me to pursue new, less stressful part-time consulting work and volunteer charitable opportunities, while also providing more time for entertainment, sports and exercise.
If it were possible to take a trip back to the past, more than likely those times would not be so idyllic. As an engineer, the technologies back then would be really frustrating after enjoying 4K TV compared to B&W, smart phones versus rotary dial, SUV’s as opposed to gas guzzling cars, 100Mbps internet contrasted to the word-of-mouth grapevine, etc, etc.
In addition to appreciating all the latest technological developments, retirement has also presented me with the opportunity to write this weekly blog. Hope you enjoy the posts as much as I’m enjoying writing them in my retirement. Maybe in my next life, I’ll blog about memories of my retirement in the 2010’s & 20’s!
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| No, this is not a Cialis commercial! |
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