Vested

During my big adventure and anything is a big adventure from a guy who was described as “never leaving his zip-code”, I had the chance to observe others and took notes. As all the actions, conversations, and observations gel in my mind, I’ll pontificate on what I heard and saw.

After a few decades of brief letters or emails, people try to gather all the information into a crammed space together. So many years to catch up on and so many ideas, a few hours cannot cover all.

So looking over my notes and sketches of a week with familiar strangers, one theme that caught my brain many times was being ‘vested’.

The concept of ‘vested’ has any number of contexts, but the most common are inheritance law and retirement plan law. In real estate, to vest is to create an entitlement to a privilege or a right.

My use of the term ‘vested’ is to have the time and the money to do what you like.

So much of our lives we are being told what to do and when to do it and how to do it and even thought we might have our own thoughts and goals and desires, we follow the status quo. We get our education, find game-full employment, select a mate, find appropriate shelter, consume products, and with any luck, live to tell about it.

What I noticed from this adventure, three old geezers were sitting around talking about creative ideas spoken decades ago but with a difference. Now, as we discussed concepts and visions, we have the time and the means to explore our passions (*Note: if our spouse allows). 

My point is that as senior citizens, we are now ‘vested’. The subjects we discuss would have been dreams back in the day, but are now within reach. We not have the accommodations and the means to procure our toys.  

Is this what life is all about?