Has anyone noticed that our 2 new members have not been participating in the conversation. Whether they are just sitting back taking it in, or left us I don't know.
Anyway for what it's worth, my two sons have told me that their best memories of childhood were doing things with our boats, and especially being around the Morehead City Yacht Basin. They took the dinghy up into the marshes, learned to filet fish, and shadowed James Hester the dock master around. They even watched wrestling with James in the lounge on Saturday nights. Later we added a 17' Boston Whaler for a ski boat. My gradsons have it now. My son has a 26' Whaler. We are still a boating family.
We didn't wait for retirement. In fact, I could retire now, but choose not to. I can cruise when I want. So, I can also enjoy the grandkids sports, and theater stuff. Still active in business, cruising, and family. Seems pretty good to me. You don't have to wait for retirement.