If you are a college football fan, then I am sure you read where the University of Alabama Head Football Coach, Nick Saban, announced his retirement. If you are not a college football fan, that’s okay because I’m not going to write about football.

Nick Saban won an astonishing seven National Championships in his coaching career. He is the greatest of all time and it is unlikely anyone will match his success. What I found surprising is that he is seventy-two years old. What I found even more surprising is that he won five of those National Championship after the age of sixty!

Learning that, I can’t help but ponder what I will do with my next decade. I turned sixty last month, and even though I retired from education, I still have plenty I want to do.

The word “retired” can be misleading. For me, it simply meant that I stopped what I was doing, I quit. I was fifty-eight at the time, but I knew going in that I was not going to plop down in my lazy – boy and watch John Wayne movies for the rest of my days. Walking on the beach with a metal detector looking for lost treasure is not on my agenda. I want to work.

What I have determined, at least for my life, is whatever I choose to do, I intend to create time. A space in my life so I can spend more of it on what I believe are the most important things. My family, my friends, myself.

I will continue to fill my grandkids full of sugar and hand them back to their parents. That is my right. I will always answer texts or phone calls from kids and daughter -in – laws no matter the time of night. I am beyond grateful that they want me in their life. I will try to be there for my friends, they have been there for me.

I have no desire to sacrifice time with my family in pursuing a career. At sixty, I am going to do the best I can and let it come to me. God knows my heart and what I am trying to accomplish, in Him I must trust.

Who knows what the future holds. I may not win any National Championships, but if I keep chipping away at the person I want to become, then major victories are likely. The Colonel was sixty-five when he opened his first Kentucky Fried Chicken. That worked out rather well for him.

My mind is clearer now, much of the clutter of my youth has been eliminated. Even though I live my life in urgency, I am not in a hurry. Life goes too fast for that. So slow down young ones and give yourself a break.

I have clearer goals at sixty than I did at thirty. The things I want to achieve today have more depth and meaning for myself and others. My Goals and priorities have shifted from professional to personal aspirations. I am afraid learning to do that only comes with age.

The ‘golden’ part of my senior years will be those spent investing my life into the ones I love and me! I am willing to get by with less so my family can have more. That’s my choice. I don’t believe I would have said that thirty years ago.

Even though I carry the tag “retired,” I am anything but that. My road is not ending, I have open highways ahead and the opportunities are endless. I hope to be like Nick, experiencing some of my greatest achievements after the age of sixty. I may not get paid for them, but they will be well worth the investment.

Retired or not, I have plenty left to do.

***

Todd Howey is a columnist for BrownwoodNews.com whose articles appear on Fridays. Email comments to [email protected].