Check Hits the Mailbox...

 Cathy's Social Security money hit the mailbox today, or more accurately for this modern era it was a digital deposit right into the bank. She likes to tell the story of how when she was a teen, working that first job and she got a check only to see that all her money was not there. They had held out a fee for taxes and Social Security. Today when she performs that daily logging on to the computer to check the online accounts while enjoying coffee it will feel like things have come full circle. There's that money was held out so long ago. 

They tell me that things may not be the same for the generations that come after the people the age of Cathy and I. Of course I recall hearing that social security might not be there for me when the time came but it has been so far. I was lucky enough to have two real good paying jobs that combined occupied about 39 years of my work life. I worked many hours, nights and weekends. Cathy worked nights for 30 years. One of Cathy's stories from the years before our marriage when we were only acquaintances is that she would see me at a party packing up my guitar just when things were getting good and ask "where's that guy going?" People said, "to work."    As I was headed out for a shift I did not really want on a weekend I often heard of friends that I knew making less money than I did taking grand vacations. I admit I was often jealous but at the same time I was paying those big bucks into social security, retirement accounts, living in the same old house for 40 years, driving cars till the wheels fell off and we feel like those things have came to roost or maybe I should say sit on the beach and fish. It's an added bonus we have our health to do this and grandchildren to keep us laughing while we do it. 

Some may say, "well you guys are just a bunch of barefooting dirty stinking hippies and you don't need all that much." That might just be the key. I hope younger people, my kids and grandkids do as well as we did. I would offer advice but there's the danger that it might be so out of date that it's not relevant anymore. All I can say is that we are all born at a time in history when things are a certain way. How we use those things to find our way is up to us.