Hey Jim, you forget one... less time on the computer.
For the record I have never had beef with you either.

Odyssey, we have the exact same philosophy.
You nailed it!

Now off for a mini holiday (3hrs) to enjoy the sun and some campfire hotdogs with my wife and dogs!

Jim, I'm not sure why, but I was under the impression that you were retired.

I AM retired.

But, first, canoeing is also NOT my only hobby! (I need a lot going on in my life to not be bored). Besides the canoeing, I do motorcycling, model building, macro photography, performance cars, and spending time with friends.

I have taken on ALL the household responsibilities while my wife takes a very intense 9-1/2 month new-career training program at a college. (She is too young to retire yet)

Plus I drive her there and pick her up every day, and also drive her everywhere else she needs or wants to go (she hates driving).

My wife works long and hard on her studies every day (She has averaged 99.x% on her overall course test results to-date ), and gets only short breaks, so she wants to spend those short breaks mostly on the actual fun activity we do, not on the necessary overheads.

Most important of all, my wife, when she takes a break, wants me AVAILABLE to spend the time with her, not out on a solo outing on either the canoe or the motorcycle or the photography or with friends somewhere. We have been like this for 43 years of happy marriage.

The net result is that my macro photography, motorcycling, cars, friends, and canoeing all have to be done in time chunks short enough to enable all of the above to happen.

And no, despite all that we are packing into our life together, I don't feel like I am in any rush all the time. I feel like these are the best days of my life, and my wife's, by far! We are both right now doing what we are excited about doing,and looking forward to getting up each and every morning!

If our health stays good, I'll end up calling these truly The Golden Years.

Jim G

Ahhhh, retired but busier than ever!

You bet! THIS is the time to do everything we have always wanted to do, but never had the time while working at a job and raising our family! And, BEFORE our strength, body flexibility, and endurance start to decline too much!

Plus,my wife's courses of study including caring for older individuals and keeping them not merely alive but healthy, and one of the keys is to keep them very active and engaged,and learning new things all the time.

I'm sure doing all those things these days!

Jim G