I started to write this post last year around this time. But I think I was in such a mental fog that I could never quite find the words to put it all together. It was the end of a road we never thought would come so fast. It was the graduation of our youngest, Tayson. And as a mom, it was brutal.
For the last 35 years, my life had been built around softball, baseball, football, basketball, traveling to games, class field trips, muffins with mom, birthday parties, road trips in the conversion van, and 6 or 7 boys waking up on Saturday mornings asking for a big breakfast in the kitchen. And that’s only scratching the surface of the memories from the crazy, beautiful life of being a mom of five. To put into perspective just how long we were in that season of life, we followed Chelsea through 18 wonderful years, and at her graduation I was 5 months pregnant with Tayson. We were closing one chapter and beginning another at the exact same time.
It was a crazy life for sure.
There were weeks during football season when we had games Monday night, Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday morning. Then we’d leave after the Saturday game and drive to a Pitt game that afternoon. We’d stay the night, come home Sunday, and start all over again Monday. Heck, one night we left Nemaha after a Friday night game around 9 PM, drove through the night, and made it to Tucker’s game in Texas at 10 AM for an 11:00 kickoff. We brushed our teeth in the parking lot using bottled water before walking in.
What a great life.
And oh, how we miss it.
I think that’s why it was so hard to write this a year ago. I was grieving the end of the last baseball season, the graduation of my baby, and wondering how we got there in the blink of an eye. Truthfully, I was not prepared for it.
Time goes fast. Sometimes you don’t think about things until it’s too late.
That’s one of the most common things we hear from people who come into our office or attend our retirement seminars.
“I wish I had talked to someone sooner.”
“I wish I had put a real plan together.”
“I just never thought I would get here this fast.”
Life keeps moving whether we think about it or not. Time keeps ticking every single day. And every day you wait is one more day you can’t get back.
If no one has ever truly sat down with you and shown you where you stand financially for retirement, I want you to make that appointment today. Not next week. Today. Because I have seen it too many times. People who worked hard their entire lives arrive at the edge of retirement anxious and uncertain. Not because they did anything wrong, but because no one ever walked alongside them and helped them see the full picture.
Helping people has been my calling my entire life. But nothing has moved me the way this work does. Sitting across from someone who spent 30 years showing up, working hard, and quietly hoping it would all be enough, and showing them that it is, that’s not just a job. It’s a privilege.
I want to help make sure you don’t run out of money. I want to help make sure the people you love are protected. And after a lifetime of hard work, I want to help make sure you actually get to enjoy what comes next.
Meeting with me costs you nothing, but it could make all the difference in the years ahead.