In the novel Islands in the Stream by Ernest Hemingway, the main character, Thomas Hudson, is asked by the aging prostitute, Honest Lil, what was the happiest day of his life. Hudson replied as follows, “The happiest day I ever had was any when I woke in the morning when I was a boy and I did not have to go to school or work.”

Wow! Me too!

Now I have come full circle, I have worked for 50 years, I got an education, and now I am retired. My happiest days are any where I wake up in the morning and I don’t have to go to school or to work. That is why I am reluctant to go back to work. My happiest days are here now.