What happens when you have met your destination?

As I walked out on the front porch this morning, coffee in hand, I was greeted by the sunlight breaking through the trees and the trees moving back and forth with the wind. It looks like it’ll be another beautiful day. I have not written a blog for a while because I enjoy being outside so much. The sunlight calls me out of my house and I spent little time inside. As I walk around and I look at my house and my property, with all the toys that go with it, I feel that I have reached the destination. I do not know if many of you have had this feeling. That is what happens when you have planed the long journey to a destination and you finally arrive.

I’m not sure that as a very young man or even in my 30s and 40s that I actually had a destination in mind. Basically during those years it was more like a survival routine then a trip to a destination. For most of us in my generation you graduated from school, you got a job and you raised a family. Possibly the only destination that you thought about during those years was retirement. During those years you worked hard to handle all the different experiences in life and then you would go to bed, sleep well, and wake up ready to take on the new challenges of the day.

With only the ideal of retirement in mind I was able to secure some financial security for such an event. But as I’ve come to find out the financial security, although it is important, does not get you to a real destination. So in my 60s I begin to concentrate on life in retirement and being happy. I moved from one house and area to another seeking the right environment. In the early years I was a big fisherman who practiced catch and release. Surprisingly, I did not eat the fish. I just enjoy the hunt and the catch. Having lived in several styles of houses I found that I wanted a house with a lot of windows so I could see outside. And even though I lived on several lakes I found the view of trees to be more to my liking. In past years I got into riding motorcycles. I’ve always owned a motorcycle and rode them from my teens to my 20s, my 30s, my 40s all the way to 62 years old. In the last 10 years I concentrated on the Harley-Davidson motorcycle brand. I thought that this was the perfect culture for me during those years. Where else can you be an overweight old man with a beard and long hair and feel like you fit in. Many men and women of my generation who road Harley-Davidson motorcycles really got into tattoos. So you can be old overweight and ugly with a lot of tattoos I still feel like you’re part of that culture. One of the few drawbacks to the Harley-Davidson culture is that it costs a lot of money. Harley-Davidson has one of the few companies that does not discount their product, therefore you always pay retail. Along with the motorcycle you spend a lot of money on gear. No matter where you traveled you would end up buying a Harley-Davidson T-shirt from someplace all around the world.

After I’d been retired for several years I felt the need to move closer to a lake. I wanted a bigger house and the bigger garage or shop to work on my projects. But that is not what happened, while looking at the Internet property for sale postings I happened upon another place. I jokingly refer to it as being in the middle of nowhere Texas. It was a property of 15 acres with a new home and a large shop. From the moment I stood on the property to look at it I knew I had to have it. Although it took a little convincing for my wife to feel the same way, she stood by my side and gave me the okay.

The property is heavily wooded and you cannot see any of the neighbor’s houses from the front porch. I really enjoy the privacy that this gives me and the feeling of peace. Then by some unusual action I found out that the property could qualify to be a Texas tree farm. So after months of working with local forest rangers the property qualified as a Texas tree farm. I wasn’t sure then where this journey was going to take me or know were my destination would be. The disadvantage of living out in the country is that I’m not near my children or grandchildren. Soon I found myself engaging in all types of projects. I began by cutting trails, cutting down dead trees, and putting sod around the house. I bought a sawmill to make boards from the lumber on the property and began digging a water well by hand. The water will just be used for irrigation and to fill the pond. I bought an old truck and fixed it so it could run. I bought an old boat and repaired it and got the old engine to run. My wife and I started raising chickens. And I bought a new John Deere tractor so I could push the dirt around. By now you’re probably wondering what this has to do with my thought of the day. What happens when you have met your destination?

Well incorporated in each one of those actions I found myself to feel complete. I find myself feeling competent and useful. I found myself feeling proud. I’m healthy enough to engage in any project that I want to. I enjoy the start of every day and I’m ready to sleep every night. I do not live in fear nor and false pride. While I was going to college I studied a man named Maslow and his theory of life. He had a hierarchy of needs. At the top of that chart was the term, self-actuation. The for lack of a better example I believe that I am there, self-actualization.

This does not mean that my world is perfect or that I want to preach a word to someone else. For me it just means that I’ve reached a destination and a wonderful time in life. I think what will happen next is that I will try to maintain my state of mind while reaching out for new adventures. What happens when you have met your destination, you work hard to keep it.

Pops