Lot of talk about retirement and all in other threads, just for a bit of perspective thats arrived on my own table.....

Yesterday my family (and the rest of my little town) lost a dear friend. Marco was a welder who worked the refineries and pipelines, then became an inspector. Cancer got him at age 58, and it didn't take long to go from seeming fine health to adios.

In a conversation just last week, a buddy asked him did he have any regrets....and Marco said no, none at all. But then the next day, he said:
I shoulda ordered the steak!



"Que le vaya bien, amigo"

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Halfway and one more step

Wow. Just Wow. Five very profound words indeed.
Via Con Dios Marco.

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Forum consigliere

Let that be a lesson to all.
Pues,Marco si sabes ahorita.
Andale, Marco

Que le pase buen futuro en el cielo, Marco. Que Dios le benediga.

I'm pretty sure that's how it's said.

Sorry to hear of your loss brother.

We're at that age where we pass on now. I been thrown different illnesses by our creator lately. So far so good. We need to tell our families we love them. When I was growing up the word love was never spoken. Today it's not said enough. People get love, in love and lust mixed up. We get old so fast. My mind is still sharp yet my body feels like I'm 90yo. My point is we work too hard to support our family and didn't save anything for the golden years. I gave it my all 125% every time I did something. I was the full back go to guy.
The prostate cancer took a lot out of me. My energy is coming back. I won't be 100% but I'll fish, hunt and shoot. Plus enjoy a good meal.
On my death bed I've done it all, "but" I'm missing a few s&w n frames yet..I refuse to go till my bucket list is complete.

It's better to have tasted the fine wine of life than not at all.

I've always said a good meal, a good cigar and a great woman that's as good as it gets.

Condolences on the loss of your friend. God Speed Marco. Good words to remember: "I shoulda ordered the steak!" Life is too short. Live it as best you can & make the most of it.

I'll admit this is one thing I struggle with.

From my post on retirement, you can see I am a planner/saver. But from time to time, I look at how much I am putting into my 401K etc. each month and dream of all the "fun" and "toys" I could be enjoying right now.

If I were to die early for whatever reason, it all seems like it would be for not. But on the other hand I don't want to be eating Alpo and struggling to get by when I am 75 either.

Hunter, in the end, it will be about the relationships you had. The things of this world will have been only baubles and passing fancies. You will be rich beyond measure if at the end you are surrounded -- either in person, or through the lens of experience and memory -- by those who love you, and whom you loved.

It's great to be a planner and a saver if what you are planning for and saving for will be used for the right purposes -- and most of it, for others -- and if you always keep in mind where those blessings come from and how they are poured out to us. Likewise, remember (and think seriously about) the fact that where a man's treasure is, there his heart will be also. If your treasure is in those whom you love -- here on this earth and elsewhere as well -- then there your heart's comfort will be found also, at the end when it will matter the very most.

Marco had, I think, the right idea. The steak of this world is here to be enjoyed in its own right, and as a blessing, and the steak of the spirit is also there to be enjoyed and to provide the best and truest sustenance of us. If we feel, at the end, that we shoulda had the steak, I hope it is because we've tasted a lot of steak along the way, and know how good it was.

I hope Marco also knew that dying isn't the end that we fear it will be, and that anything unaccomplished or unused here on earth wasn't wasted; it was just accumulated and can't be taken with us. A life truly and completely well-lived leads to another in which nothing material of this earth will matter a whit.

Marco, we all will follow you at some time or other, and from the sound of it, you are already finding the reward -- the steak -- that awaits us beyond this life. Rest easy, amigo, and enjoy it; you have earned it.

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

Actually Alpo ain't that bad!

Seriously, due to some very bad life decisions I find myself a physical train wreck (my doc's words) retired (disability) on $1200 a month. I'm lucky I have my home and a little acreage paid for.

It has actually been a good thing. I've found money isn't everything, and a very good quality of life is possible on small dollars once you learn just how unimportant "stuff" is.

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Bob | KM4DEO
Sport | Glock 22

I still have spent the majority of my life as a single man. Got married the first time at 41. Divorced in between for another 19 years. Of course there were a number of GF`s in between. Still, the fact is I would be living a LOT different were I single again. Then again there is a big chance I wouldnt even be alive had I stayed single. About 7 years ago I was given a couple months if I didnt get my nose cut off due to cancer. I believe I would have took my chances if I were still single. You cant live for just yourself, wife comes first. Otherwise if I was still alive and single I would be using Copenhagen, smoking cigars and drinking just a little and be gambling heavy.
I used to do those things a lot and truthfully, still miss them. We shouldn't live for just ourselves. Fine, if your single. I am 73 and have been legally single about 59 of them. Your retirement figures need to consider how long your wife might live after your gone. (Unless she is hot!). Mine is 17 years younger than me. I retired before we met.

It's so true, it is not what you have, it's who you have in your life. All our married life struggled to support our family, after the kids grew up and left home our income changed. We are in reasonably good health and we are enjoying our life doing the things we could not do when we were young and had kids. But a lot of what we do is with the kids and grandkids. Enjoy the people in your life.

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Carpriver.

I never ate alpo. I just lost 80lbs now with 60# more to go by fall.

I had a blue collar job with white collar corporate benefits.
I retired on three incomes. I'm not rich but comfortable.

Money doesn't make us rich. It's the quality of friends and family that we surround ourselves with that enriches our lives and there's also.

Years ago I ate some Alpo. With a little garlic salt & Tabasco it wasn't bad at all. But then I was pretty drunk. (it looked like left over hash)

Ain't it the truth. Sobering up along did wonders for my quality of life.

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Bob | KM4DEO
Sport | Glock 22

I been married 3 times, been around a bit, won some fights, lost some fights, made a couple fortunes, lost a couple fortunes, changed careers(not jobs) 5 times, drank enough alcohol to float a small navy, seen things that weren't there and seen things I wished weren't there. At 61 I'm happier than I've ever been. I've got a few details still to work out for my wife but if this was the last day of my life, it's as good a day as any to go. Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

Here is my favorite on Passing, I learned it in Spanish years ago:

"Cuando nacistes todos que te rodeaban sonreian, solo tu llorabas.
Vive tu vida que cuando mueras todos que te rodean estan llorando, y solo tu sonrias"

Which in English means:

"When you were born all around you were smiling, only you were crying.
Live your life such that when you die all around you will be crying, only you will be smiling."

Steve W

The only thing I miss about work is the money.

You are lucky my friend. My elderly neighbor died from eating Alpo.

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Forum consigliere

58 is way too young to go out.

Still, if I am taken tomorrow, I will have no regrets except leaving my Grandkids behind.



I've lived a full, interesting life and I'm having alot more fun in my second childhood that I did in the first...

Drew

Isn't that the truth? I'm learning to live with less myself now and trading guns instead of buying them outright.
I learned years ago to treat myself to some steak in life when the bills were paid and I'd made some overtime money. Now I've sold some of those toys I had fun with and don't miss them too much. I look at them as a savings account I had fun with and some like N frames increased in value even.
These are the years I planned on hitting retirement funds heavy but due to health reasons had to retire early. I may have to live at a slightly lower lifestyle than I'd wanted but not getting heavily into debt has helped.

Understand what you mean, Drew. Still, as involved as you are with them and as much as I am sure they adore their grandpa, you certainly should have no regrets on those accounts anyway.

They're blessed, and so are you!

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

Dog food is not suitable for human consumption. Dogs have a different digestive system. What Happens if You Eat Dog Food?
Anyone considering it, please don't be too proud to go to a food pantry or a church or a soup kitchen. Food really is life or death.

Indeed this is so... and Thank You!

The Lord has been kind to His servant.

Actually he was sitting in the road licking his testicles when a truck hit him.

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Forum consigliere

Ugh...

Actually thanks for the laugh. I've enjoyed this thread even though it is pretty weighty. Humor is a nice break.

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Proud anachronism

Caj knows this because he and a friend from Fire Island happened to be walking by at the time, and Caj nudged his friend and said, 'Bet you wish you could do that." Whereupon, his friend replied in shocked disbelief, "No way! He would BITE MEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!"

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

Thanks for the thoughts fellows, here's a little bit more about Marco, and his time in Iowa, Montana & elsewhere.

Scott Joseph Marco | KIWARadio.com

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Halfway and one more step

Prayers up for his friends and family. Sounds like y'all lost a good man.

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Real men love cats!

We have to face the fact that we are all on our way out. We'll probably all have some regrets. Hindsight is 20-20 and there are things I've done (or should have done) in the past that I wish I had done differently. Even so, it is what it is and it can't be changed. The best thing we all can do is enjoy life as it is and what we all have and try to help those in need. I think Marco had it right, we should all order the steak. RIP Marco.

Enjoy every sandwich. - Warren Zevon