When I retired, I had a conversation with myself to do as many things as possible that are really fun and don’t cause much trouble for anyone. Photography, hunting and fishing, digging in my day lilies, and mowing my grass have occupied most of my time. Establishing a relationship with the school has added another dimension to this process that gives me a whole different level of participation and enjoyment. I had no expectation of being able to watch students achieve and excel - and I  am grateful for that opportunity. I suppose that my advice to people making that step into the realm of retirement would be to exercise enough to stay mobile and healthy, and find some way to make a little contribution to the community that elevates the “fun factor” for as many people as possible. “Joy in Living” is a precious commodity and has to be nurtured. It is far to easy to sit down and die in front of a television. Please don’t do that.
That is not to say that people who aren’t retired can’t do the same thing. I have a couple of buddies who hunt geese and make a difference in that endeavor. Snow geese are breeding themselves out of house, home and habitat in their nesting areas. Canadas, Lessers, White-fronts and Rosses are at high numbers also. We are all aware of geese on Veterans pond and the damage they have done. The Feds are aware of the snow goose problem and allow hunting with electronic calls and have extended the season well into spring. This is high energy hunting.  Putting out and taking up hundreds of decoys is good exercise. If you hunt geese most of the days of the season and have any success at all - you have a LOT of geese. All these geese get cleaned. The meat is saved and converted into meat sticks (mixed with pork) and sausage. This amounts to several hundred pounds of product at a cost of greater than $1,000. It is transported to Wichita and given to the homeless shelters. It was a  genuine gift to hunt with these guys. I have heard that they also fish for walleye when goose season ends - I will let you know.
Bottom line - don’t sit on your duff and let your arteries clog when you could do so much better!
Doc