Plaid clothes in the store? Must mean summer’s over. As a kid, every year I got a new plaid dress and shiny shoes to start back to school. I think by high school it was a new plaid straight skirt with a blazer. There were always new notebooks, pencils and pens, a clean slate, so to speak. It is almost as if the luster of a few new things would make me forget that the best part of the year was OVER. Summer. I love summer. I love the warmth on my face, the food, the feel of grass between my toes. I love the smell of sun lotion, flowers and hot dogs on the grill. I miss hanging out on my bike, skipping stones across the brook and generally hanging out.

Now even though I am my own boss and can play hooky whenever I want, it’s not the same. First of all no one else is around to play. Second of all, there is something about the chilly air that speaks of producing something. Maybe it goes back to my ancestors, but cold air means moving around and keeping warm. So while I am not going to chop a cord of wood anytime too soon…I will dust off the notes for the next book. I will take out the brushes and paint and canvas. I will schedule more opportunites to speak to groups about their hopes and dreams.

Fall is a good reminder for my friends who are thinking about retirement to plan for a life of excitement. We all know what we want to retire ‘from’…traffic jams, long meetings and micro-managers. But what is it we all want to retire to? As I say, it’s all well and good to say ‘golf’, but what are you going to do the rest of your waking hours?

So go buy your plaid shirt, skirt or tie and think about what all that schooling was for. Maybe, you still have an awful lot left to give others. This doesn’t have to be difficult, expensive or time consuming. Just listen to the next time you say, “somebody ought to do something about that” and consider that might be you!