April 2022 – Growing Up Not Old

Making Music in the Mountains of Colorado

Steve Blechschmidt traded in his corporate life for a place in the mountains and he couldn’t be happier.

Steve Blechschmidt traded in his seat at the corporate table for a home in the Colorado mountains and he couldn’t be happier.

When Steve was offered a promotion during a company reorganization, he knew it wasn’t the right move for him. “I knew deep down inside that I didn’t want to put in the effort it would take to do one those big jobs properly,” Steve said. “Those jobs are hard, hard, hard.” Instead, he suggested a compromise that helped him transition into retirement.

In 2015, Steve offered to work remotely as a contractor, performing a critical function for the company. It was less money, but it was also less stress. The company management team agreed to his terms and he worked in that capacity for four years until he was laid off.

“I never decided here we go. Now’s the time (to retire),” Steve said. If he hadn’t been laid off, he would have kept on working.

However during his transition time, he and his wife, Carol, took steps to make retirement possible. They moved from Denver, Colorado to the mountain town of Pagosa Springs, Colorado where he has lived for the past six years.

They also became debt-free. To him that meant no house payment and no car payment. “Debt is slavery. You are a slave to the bank,” Steve said. “I don’t need a lot of money to live. Being debt free is very freeing, a game changing place to be.”

Being debt-free also allowed him to not worry about bringing in additional income and he was free to pursue his real passion full-time: playing the guitar.

Becoming a Full-Time Musician

“I’m a musician now,” Steve said. He plays finger style guitar. “It’s the way Chet Atkins plays the guitar.” He said he feels a passion for guitar that he never felt when working in IT.

Steve practices between one and four hours every day. “I play ambient music in beautiful settings,” Steve said. You’ll find him playing his guitar at wine tastings, very nice restaurants and world’s deepest hot springs that are right there in Pagosa Springs. ”I love giving someone a moment of peace visa via a guitar,” Steve said.

He started playing the guitar at 38 as a promise to his daughter. When she was ready to give up on her piano lessons, he made a deal with her. “If you keep up with your piano lessons, I’ll learn to play the guitar,” Steve said. She did and as a result, he learned to play the guitar.

Something happened when he picked up that guitar, “A tremendous passion came over me. Some people even think I’m a bit of a nut in how hard I work at playing the guitar,” Steve said with a chuckle. “It’s not an easy way to play a guitar.” He loves playing the guitar and practices between 1 – 4 hours a day.

Making Retirement Work

In addition to playing the guitar, Steve spends quite a bit of time preparing wood for the winter. He has a permit to chop down wood to help heat his cabin and of course has household chores and a honey do list to keep him busy.

“Still, I have those retiree days where I say ‘What day is it today? Wednesday? Thursday?’” Steve said. The only thing on his calendar are gigs.

“I like being completely in control of my days and schedule,” Steve said However, he understands the importance of having some type of focus in his life. “It’s important to have something to latch onto and for me, that’s music.”

He has a word of warning to people contemplating retirement. “It’s important to not let yourself dissolve into nothingness,” He said, “it’s easy to drink too much, eat too much, watch too much TV and not do a damn thing in retirement.”

He encourages people to find their passion and start working on it even before they retire. “Begin now to understand your passion and begin working on it,” Steve said.

Planning Out Finances in Retirement

In addition to his plan to become debt free, Steve also credits his and Carol’s attitude towards money as a contributing factor to their retirement success.

“My wife and I have always been down to earth people. I like old pickup trucks rather than BMWs,” Steve said. “This lifestyle of not wanting fancy glitzy things has served us well.”

In addition, Steve said he and his wife have never been big travelers so that was never really part of their retirement financial plan. “We chose live in the Colorado Rockies. Every day is a vacation. People come to where we live for their vacations.” Steve said.

But Steve never really had a true plan for retirement. Instead, he decided to figure it out as he went along.

He said he was lucky enough to do well in some real estate transactions. That money helped him until he was able to collect social security at 62. “I took it as soon as I could,” Steve said. Carol’s retirement and Steve’s social security take care of their monthly expenses.

In addition, Steve uses his guitar playing to supplement his retirement income. “It’s very hard to make a lot of money being a musician,” Steve said. However, he said, “In a good month I can make about $1,000.”

They have savings and a stock portfolio that they can leverage for any unexpected expenses.

Handling Health Insurance

Steve is fortunate enough to be covered under his wife’s medical plan. As a retired school teacher she had a medical plan that continued even after she retired. Even though she is now on Medicare, her insurance will continue to cover him until he turns 65 in three years.

However, Steve said he has not really needed much health care so far. He describes himself as a “dietary nut” who has been blessed with good health. He doesn’t eat processed sugar and eats completely organic food. He does still like to indulge in a beer occasionally. After all, he lives in Colorado where good craft beer is everywhere.

Steve stays fit walking in 7,500 foot altitude and preparing the wood pile for the long Colorado winters. He also loves preparing wood for winter including chopping down trees (with his permit) and stacking wood.

Advice for Others

Steve said he believes what is most important in life is contribution. “I think you need to contribute and I contribute through music,” Steve said. “You need to find your passion. Grow your skill set at your passion. There is no magic, secret sauce, you have to work your ass off.”

If you would like to know more about Steve or hear him play the guitar, go to his website: SEBguitar.com.

If you know someone who has made a big life change after 50, please email me at: ksparis15@gmail.com

Making Dream Vacations Come True

When Chris met her new husband, she also found herself starting on a new career as well. It’s been a perfect combination.

When Christiane Schmitz Beavis married her second husband, David, on the island of Tortola in 2014, she got more than a life partner, she also got a new career.

David, is part owner in VOYAGE charters reservations, specializing in luxury charter yacht vacations in the British Virgin Islands, (BVI). His venture started when he began working as crew on catamarans in the Caribbean. David met Robin and his wife, Jo Ann in the BVI as they were starting up a small charter company with another couple. Twenty five years later, the business has grown into a family owned, boutique charter business on Tortola. After working as crew, David and his first wife participated in the start up of the Annapolis reservation office in 2000, working exclusively with VOYAGE charters BVI, booking charters on VOYAGE yachts in the BVI.

In 2016, Chris joined the company. After a lifelong career in the lab industry, she was ready for a change. “It was a world I was completely unfamiliar with prior to meeting David,” Chris said. But over the years she had developed strong customer service and management skills that she was able to bring to VOYAGE charters. “It was scary (leaving corporate America), but it was also very freeing,” Chris said.

Although perhaps lesser known then the U.S. Virgin Islands, they are no less beautiful with white sand beaches, clear ocean waters and amazing snorkeling and scuba diving. The BVI also have rock formations called the Baths that people come from all over to see.

Chris spends most of her time at the reservation office in Annapolis or working from a home office. She and David work together with their team answering people’s questions about charters, doing computer work and brainstorming ways to promote and grow their business.

Their days start by “walking” their 14-year-old dog and then taking another walk “to get the blood flowing.” During this second walk, they discuss the day ahead and form strategies on how to grow the business and address issues that come up. “I never thought I’d want to live and work with my husband,” Chris said. They are partners in life and in business. After their morning walk, David and sometimes Chris, ride their bikes to work. “I love working with and traveling with my husband.”

“It’s a very different pace than working for corporate America,” Chris said. “Now I work for a small family-owned company where my work is my life. It is a seven-day a-week job.” However, Chris doesn’t mind. “I’m working harder, especially the last couple of years. But it’s wonderful because I have my partner with me.”

A side benefit of her new career is that Chris has been able to experience these luxury vacations, sometimes complete with a captain and chef. She has also had more time to travel. She and her husband head down to the BVI a couple times a year to meet with their business partners and to see how everything is going.

“It’s very beautiful, but it has its challenges living in paradise. It’s very different from our life here.” Chris said. However, Chris is grateful to have the opportunity for frequent visits. “Even though I’m not a sailor, I find it incredibly relaxing to be on the water in such a beautiful part of the world. There’s no better way to see the islands.”

Hitting Rough Waters

But not everything has been a fantasy. In 2017, the BVI was decimated by Hurricane Irma. “It took out our entire fleet and our base down in the BVI,” Chris said. At first, she and her husband didn’t even know if anyone at VOYAGE charters had survived. A second storm soon followed. “David flew to Puerto Rico and made his way to Tortola to drop off some cash, a satellite phone and medicines before the second storm was predicted to hit,” Chris said. “It was very scary for us.”

“I was so new to the business I thought ‘What does this mean’?” Chris said. She knew it wasn’t good. “It took us a few years to dig out from that.” At first, Chris was wondering if she would need to go back to her job in corporate America. But it worked out that she was able to stay on and help rebuild the business.

That didn’t mean that they didn’t have to do a lot of belt tightening, but “we had a nest egg if we needed to tap into it.” They did.

Chris had already been through some challenges in her life including the settlement of her home’s foundation shortly after leaving her job to be a full-time mom and then a divorce from her first husband. However, she feels that those experiences gave her “strength and resilience for the future,” she said.

“We were just coming around the corner from after the hurricanes when COVID hit,” Chris said. The BVI shut down from March 2020 to December 2020 and no tourists were allowed into the territory. According to Chris, even once it opened there was quarantining and multiple testing for tourists visiting the BVI. The BVI lost much of its business to the U.S. Virgin Island, which had fewer restrictions.

“When the BVI was locked down, most of the people there (in the BVI) had no source of income. It’s amazing they were able to get by,” Chris said. It was a struggle for VOYAGEcharters as well. “As a company, we were very fortunate to have boat owners and customers who were supportive of us,” Chris said.

One of their customers, The Cathy Family, owners of Chick-Fil-A, who organizes retreats with VOYAGEcharters, was one of the first ones to call and ask what they could do to help after Irma and the pandemic.

“Through the grace of God and perseverance of the family that owns the charter company, we got through it,” Chris said.

“I have such admiration for what they went through and the positivity that they carried with them throughout it.”

Coming Out of the Storm

Now in 2022, Chris said it finally feels as though things are getting back to normal. “Things are busy, busy, busy.” They are back up to 21 yachts in the fleet and have a new model which will have added 9 new yachts to the fleet by 2024.

“They’ve had a really lush spring down there. The remnants of the hurricane are all but gone,” Chris said, having just visited recently. “You do see some abandoned boats and damage that was done by the storm, but all the greenery has come back.”

Managing Health Care

Working for a small business, Chris relies on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for health insurance. “That was very eye opening for me. In corporate America, I always had great insurance, but now I’m on the open market.”

At first, she went to a private company that said she would have to have a $30,000 rider, per year for her lifetime, in case she hurt her knee. She had previously had ACL surgery and as a pre-existing condition, it wasn’t covered.

“Obamacare did me a huge favor because I had ACL surgery and I have high blood pressure,” Chris said. Both are considered previous existing conditions and weren’t covered under private insurance. The ACA covered both her high blood pressure and any injuries she might have to her knee leaving her free to resume a more active lifestyle.

In addition to walking and biking, Chris has taken up paddle boarding that she loves doing on the Severn River as well as in the Caribbean.

However, Chris said she’s found some downsides to getting her own insurance. “It is an incredible expense, and you still have copays,” Chris said. She has also had difficulty finding doctors she in her plan.

Advice For Those Looking to Make a Change

Chris said she encourages her peers, those 50+, to explore options and figure out what they want to do with the rest of their lives.

“By the time you’re our age, you should be able to trust your gut. There are so many resources to research what you want to do and explore,” Chris said. She encourages people to find out more about different life options. “People are so willing to talk and share their experiences.” She credits Facebook as one way to reach out to people and find out what they’re doing and what might be right for you.

Her final words of advice. “Don’t be afraid. Don’t settle for unhappiness. You are in charge of your own destiny and happiness. There are so many things that we can’t do anything about but there are things we can do something about and the biggest thing is our attitude.”

Smooth sailings Chris.

To find out more about VOYAGEcharters, go to their website VOYAGEcharters.com.

If you know someone who would be an interesting subject for my blog, email me at ksparis15@gmail.com.

A New Start After Walmart

Bert found out there’s a lot you can learn working at Walmart.

“Welcome to Walmart!”

Retirees joke about becoming a greeter at Walmart, but for Bert Shayte it became a reality and was just what he needed at just the right time.

Bert had the same dreams of a traditional retirement that many people have: living in the house he had shared with his wife of many years and bouncing grandchildren on his knee. But at 54, Bert found himself divorced, kids grown and living out of town and in a job where he was asked to do more and more for less and less. Ready for a change, he left his job with the intention of taking a break and finding a new job within six months.

He spent some time volunteering at the Baltimore Humane Society walking and feeding dogs. That’s where he got his pit bull Bertha, his constant companion. It was a little bit of a rough start. She was a puppy and he had to housebreak her. She was also very skittish at the beginning, afraid to go down the steps and even tried to attack his television set once.

After a few years, he had still not found a paying job in his former profession, publishing. Instead, he was living off his savings and spending much of his time in his man cave with Bertha, in front of the television with a drink in his hand and eating unhealthy food.

An off-handed comment from a friend made him realize that he was drinking too much and doing too little. He knew he wasn’t living the life he wanted to live and decided to get help. He started seeing a therapist who helped him get onto a more positive path.

Working at Walmart

But then COVID hit. Feelings of isolation grew, and he knew he had to do something different. So, he applied to Walmart as a Customer Host, today’s version of a greeter.

“I was hired on the spot,” Bert said. He started making only $11 or $12 an hour, but he did get COVID bonuses for working during the pandemic. “The best part of it was being out and around people.” He developed a camaraderie with some of his co-workers and even some of the customers.

He began working in July 2020 at the height of the pandemic. “I went from seeing almost no one to seeing thousands every day” he said.

Bert balanced preventing theft with enforcing the mask mandate. “People yelled at me when I had to give them masks and they yelled at me when I ran out of masks,” Bert said. “Basically, it seemed like someone was always yelling at me.” But a friend told him, “You’re exactly where God wants you to be.”

“It was humbling,” Bert said. “But I eventually learned not to take things so personally.”

He had originally signed up to work five days a week but found he could only handle four. Standing on his feet 8 hours a day watching customers was tiring. Bert said, “It was like a circus sometimes. I thought they should sell tickets.”

Bert learned a lot about himself working at Walmart. “You see all kinds of people wearing all kinds of things,” he said. I found myself being very judgmental. “One day I saw this very heavyset guy come in and I thought, I bet he’s headed right to McDonald’s.” The man did end up going over to McDonald’s and then came over and sat down on a bench near Bert and struck up a conversation. Bert learned that the man had had an organ transplant, which had contributed to his weight gain. “He was a really nice guy,” Bert said. He realized maybe he was judging people too quickly and for no good reason. “Not that I didn’t judge people after that, but I was more conscious of it,” Bert said.

The same friend who told Bert that God wanted him at Walmart told him a year later, “It’s time to go.” Bert knew that was true when he was reprimanded for leaving his door post to help render aid to a woman having a medical emergency in the parking lot.

On his last day, Bert asked a customer for his receipt, as was his job. The man told Bert his wife had the receipt and was just behind him. There was no one following him, so Bert again asked for the receipt and the man just continued through the doors. Bert turned over the cart and intervened to prevent a theft of over $2,000 in merchandise…which was not an expected part of the job. He was working diligently right up until the minute he left.

“It would have been nice if I’d found a less menial job, but honestly, there’s a lot you can learn. I learned a whole lot about people by working in a low-level retail job,” he said.

New Lessons to Learn

With those lessons learned, Bert turned to a different type of schooling. He enrolled at CCBC to become a Certified Supervised Counselor for Alcohol and Drugs. CCBC offers over 60 tuition-free classes and Bert has decided to take advantage of the opportunity. “It’s not totally free, but it’s really cheap,” Bert said. The classes he is currently taking will allow him to work in the counseling field for 2 years while completing his certification.

He said it hasn’t been easy navigating the on-line technology associated with going to school in 2022. He had to not only learn the school’s user-unfriendly email system, but also other software and Brightspace, the educational learning platform used by CCBC.

As he approaches 65, he reflects on all he has been through over the past 10 years. He is happy where he is and is looking forward to the future. He’s even taking a spin at online dating.

Once again, he’s living on his savings, but this year he will be applying for Social Security and Medicare. Besides school, he is looking for a part-time job. “I don’t think I’ll go back to Walmart, maybe some place a little bit nicer like Wegman’s or Costco,” he said. “We’ll see what happens.”

Whatever his path, Bert knows he can handle it. “I used to worry about things all the time. I learned not to worry too much about stuff. I think about it, and I do something about it because worrying doesn’t do any good. I’ll get by,” Bert said.

Starting Her Next Chapter

Fulfilling a life long goal as a children’s author is only one of the parts of Susan Diamond Riley’s wonderful life.

While many people move to Hilton Head Island to begin their retirement, Susan Diamond Riley had a different plan. Hilton Head opened up a whole new world for her. Rather than a second act, Susan said, “I like to think of it as a second chapter.”

Her “second chapter” began at her daughter’s graduation from the University of North Carolina Charlotte. Susan became inspired when she saw that some of the master’s degree candidates were her age and older. “I thought, ‘Wow! I could go back to school’”

At 50, it had been a long time since she’d been a student. “I thought that I had missed that boat,” Susan said. But when she saw people who had “hopped on that boat”, she decided to join them.

Driving home that night, she told her husband, “I’m going to earn my master’s degree.” She applied the next week. “I jumped on it while I was still enthusiastic and before I chickened out,” Susan said.

Choosing a Major

Susan had spent her professional career writing and editing. Even after she had left her full-time career to raise her children, she continued to do freelance work writing for local publications and taking editing jobs. But it was her work as a substitute teacher that inspired her to write for middle schoolers and led her to major in Children’s Literature.

“I had always had a goal of writing a novel, however it never took priority. It was one of those things that was a dream, but there were everyday things that took precedence,” Susan said. “I needed some accountability to make me do it.” That’s what going back to school gave her.

During her course work, she received an assignment to write a thriller. Trying to combine her interest in children’s literature with the assignment, she asked the professor if she could write a thriller for children. He said, “Hey, if you can pull it off, you can do it.”

The Origin of Her Idea

Susan was struggling to find inspiration for her assignment. While on a family vacation to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, she asked her children and in-laws for ideas. Her children suggested setting the story on Hilton Head. Although Susan liked the idea, she found it difficult to imagine a thriller in such as idyllic setting.

Susan’s first book *Sea Island’s Secret*

“Maybe they find a skeleton in the salt marsh?” her mother-in-law suggested. Intrigued, Susan thought about the idea, but decided it should be an old skeleton to make it “less creepy” for her middle-school-aged readers. The story idea (which eventually became her first novel, The Sea Island’s Secret) began to develop. Soon Susan began thinking about how the skeleton could have gotten there, what event could have happened. She began researching the history of Hilton Head. “I discovered there’s tons of history in the Lowcountry.” Susan decided to weave that history and mystery together for a winning combination.

Part of that research involved taking a tour of Hilton Head with a local historian, who took her to a gated community. “There was so much history there. That neighborhood was the site of Civil War history, relics from the Spanish-American War, and it was the site of the start of the first self-governing community of freed slaves.” Susan said. “I told my husband that if we ever move down to Hilton Head full-time, we need to live in this neighborhood where we can be in the center of all that history.”

The Move to Hilton Head

Although many people move to Hilton Head to retire, that was not Susan’ plan. While writing her books in Charlotte, she had fallen in love with Hilton Head.“People assume because my books are set in Hilton Head that I was living there when I started writing them, but it was just the opposite,” Susan said.

So, shortly after she received her master’s degree, Susan and her husband of over 30 years, Steve, moved their family down to Hilton Head and into the neighborhood she had toured with the historian. Fortunately, her husband was able to continue working with his company remotely.

“Once I moved down here, I felt as though there was a lot of history in this part of the country that had been forgotten. I decided I would write books to tell those stories,” Susan said.

Her stories weave together historical events with some made-up fiction. As a former teacher, Susan loves the fact that the students are learning history that they might not learn in the classroom. However, at the end of each book, she devotes a section to clarify fact from fiction in the story.

What’s Special About Delta and Jax?

Susan’s books are about siblings from Chicago, Delta and Jax, who go to visit their grandparents on Hilton Head for the summer. They always encounter some kind of mystery from the past they have to uncover.

When asked why her books are so popular, Susan said. “The kids like the humor of the brother and sister and their friends. And they like learning about the history they haven’t been taught in their history classes.” In her books, Susan tries to give history context. “As they (Delta and Jax) are solving this mystery from the past, something’s happening in the current day too. They’re learning lessons from the past that maybe help them solve something they are dealing with in the present day.” She tries to make history relevant to her characters—and readers’—modern lives.

Bumps in the Road

Shortly after the move to Hilton Head, Steve’s company went through a transition and his position was eliminated. Although he had the opportunity to find another position within the company, he chose to take the severance package his company offered and retire at age 54. “We decided it was a sign from God,” Susan said. However, that was not without looking at the numbers and talking to their financial planner.

Then, just as Susan was getting ready for her second book to drop, COVID hit. “My second book The Sea Turtle’s Curse (exploring the Spanish explorers and Native Americans who called the Lowcountry home in the late 1600s) came out smack in the middle of COVID,” she said. She had a number of in-person events including a launch party, speaking engagements, and book festivals scheduled. “I had a full schedule of marketing events planned for the next six months,” Susan said, “and every single one of them was cancelled.”

Suddenly she had an open period, but she also had writer’s block. “Fortunately for me, other people didn’t,” Susan said. During COVID, many people took the time to do some writing, so Susan said, “I had a lot of editing business which I could do from home.”

She also began researching her next book which is due out in September, The Sea Witch’s Revenge. In her third book, Delta and Jax face a mystery involving the Revolutionary War.

During this time, Susan was able to do some virtual school visits and online writing and editing workshops for adults and kids via Zoom. She is also affiliated with the Pat Conroy Literary Center in Beaufort, SC about an hour from her home. “They kept a lot of programming going virtually. So, I taught classes, did virtual author visits, and even a couple of videos for public television.

“But there’s nothing like really being with the people,” Susan said. She is now back to in-person events. After a recent visit with a group of 8^th graders, Susan received a packet of thank you notes. “You don’t get those when you’re just a face on a tv screen in their classroom,” Susan said.

Making Dreams Come True

Although, Steve ended up retiring earlier than they had planned, the couple was ready for it.

“We started planning for retirement at 25,” Susan said. The plan had always been for Steve to retire in his 50s. They had always made savings a priority and fully funded their 401Ks. But the key to their financial success was simple. “We always lived below our means,” Susan said.

She explains, “When we could have moved to a bigger house, we didn’t quite yet. When we could have gotten a bigger, fancier car, we didn’t. All with the idea that we wanted to plan for the future.” Those goals didn’t only include early retirement, but also putting their three children through college.

Even today, if they have any major financial decisions to make, they call their advisor and have him “run the numbers.”

In her “free” time, Susan likes to take advantage of all of the activities on Hilton Head. “One of the reasons we decided to move down here is because people are so physically active and the climate makes it possible,” Susan said. “We thought we’d be encouraged by all the other active people.” She swims, plays pickleball, and takes walks on the beach. She sometimes plays golf, but her husband plays golf several days a week.

She loves making her own hours and having her husband have that same flexibility. “He is so much more relaxed,” she said. “We have been able to make so many friends here in such a short period of time because we have more time to socialize.”

In addition, her family has recently had some health issues to deal with and she said, “Our neighbors have come out of the woodwork to help by offering rides, making meals, and giving emotional support.” She said she doesn’t think it would have been like that anywhere else they’ve lived because people were busy working.

Because of the couple’s many new friends and active social life, “Our kids say it’s like we’re in college again except we don’t have to go to classes,” Susan said. “I highly recommend it.”

“We love it down here. We really do.”

Her biggest issue is that she needs to learn to say no. There is always something to do and she wants to be involved in everything. “I want to do all the things,” Susan said, but adds that she needs to balance her social and volunteer activities with her time writing the Delta and Jax mysteries and her “day job” as a freelance editor.

Health Care Before Medicare

For many people over 60, healthcare is a huge issue. Susan said they were fortunate to qualify for her husband’s company healthcare plan after he retired, but they did weigh all the options available. “We looked into getting private insurance. We knew there were good options out there. We could have gotten something for slightly less than we pay now, but a lot of those plans restrict you to a certain state,” Susan said. They ultimately chose a plan that wouldn’t restrict them to one state since Hilton Head is so close to the Georgia border.

“People stay in jobs that they frankly hate just for the healthcare,” Susan said. “It’s an urban legend that you can’t retire until you get Medicare because otherwise you won’t have health insurance.”

She encourages people who are using lack of health insurance as an excuse not to retire to look into insurance options more. “It’s not that black and white at all. There are a lot of options for health insurance in retirement.”

Advice for People Ready to Make a Change

Although, the word retirement does not exactly describe Susan’s life on Hilton Head, she and her husband made some big changes after 50. She began a new career and her husband retired from his. Susan often has to remind her friends, “My husband is retired. I’m not retired.” She’s self-employed and is learning to balance her work with all the other activities available to her, but she wouldn’t change a thing.

She has some advice for people looking to make a big change in their lives. “I’m a big proponent of lists. So, if you need to, make a list of the pros and cons. Then, check the numbers. Your chances of success are better if you know it’s financially feasible,” Susan said.

But even if retirement isn’t an option right now, Susan’s advice is to figure out a way to make your dreams a reality. Her philosophy is: “A thousand things can happen between now and dinner time. So, better now than later.” Even before beginning her new career as a writer, Susan and her husband were ticking things off on their bucket list including visiting all 50 states.

“If there’s something that’s on your bucket list, do it. What are you waiting for?” Susan said. “Figure out a way to make it happen while you can.”

Susan is enjoying her life on Hilton Head, her career as an author/editor, and life with her husband Steve. She is currently working on her fourth novel The Sea Devil’s Demise, set in the early 1700s and involving a reader favorite: pirates.

If you want to find out more about Susan and her career, visit her website at SusanDiamondRiley.com.

If you know someone who would make a great subject for my blog, email me at ksparis15@gmail.com.