Quote:Tibby doesn't like him drooling on him in the car, so the hikes are less frequent.

Give him a towel and tell him to get off the dog's case.

Right? I want to be fair and make it clear that my sister's dog is a very minimally trained maniac. He's 7 and he still pees from excitement when I come over. He circles frantically for about 10 minutes, crushing my toes, every time we see each other. He's amazing on walks, unless he sees water, but I can see how a non-dog person could get overwhelmed. It's different for me, though. I'm just as excited to see him.

I can't resist saying hello to a dog I come across while out walking. Tibs can completely ignore them without batting an eyelash. It's alien to me. Lucky he's at least friendly with dogs who are friendly with him or I'm not sure we could tolerate each other. He's trying to veto my plans to get a Great Dane. He thinks they're too big. I figure if he can fit in my life, so can a big dog.

Right, what will my retirement look like?

In one word, bleak. After 2008 and the robber barons taking it all from me.

Many of these do sound great. I live in a town where we get hundreds of retired folks every winter. They arrive in their RVs, park em, and flood our restaurants, events, parks, everything. I have joined some of their meetups just for kicks and met some interesting people. I'm 31 and nowhere near retirement, but I am planning ahead. I take my retirement seriously.

I have also thought of not being a snowbird and giving that up for being a foster parent. I have trouble deciding between these.

I don't plan that far ahead. I want to do all my traveling and fun stuff now, well before retirement. If i do make it that far. I want to look back at my life and honestly be able to say that i've done all the things i really wanted with my life. That i didn't allow fear to stop me from living my own life and following my own path. Hopefully by then i would have matured and grown more as a person and be at peace with myself and my environment. Perhaps i'll just roam around the earth, enjoying the remaining years of my existence while i happily await for death.