This is my post for the #memoirmonday prompt In your opinion, when is the right time to retire? hosted by @ericvancewatson
I grew up on the south side of what is now called Sebastian Inlet State Park, My parents started the campground in 1952, it was called Henry's Fish Camp but in 1969 the state took the land and we had to move in 1971.
Before moving here my father was a commercial fisherman in the Florida Everglades but they closed the Everglades to commercial fishing and he moved to the Inlet and started the campground. My grandfather was a commercial fisherman here, and I am now a third-generation commercial fisherman.
When I was a child I was either fishing or swimming, that is how I spent my days when not in school.
40 years ago I started dating a commercial fisherman, we have been married for 38 years.
We fished together for a few years, then one day he had to attend a fisheries meeting on the west coast and told me to take the boat and catch the jacks that we had been fishing for. I did it and caught 1500 pounds, from that day on, that was my boat.
He built himself another boat.
This is the boat that he built.
There were still times when we fished together.
But for the most part, I ran my boat.
Times have changed in the last 40 years, there are no more fish houses on the waterfront and no place for commercial fishermen to tie their boats. We now have to trailer them, and we have to drive to an inland fish house, they have banned our way of net fishing and now we have to use a cast net or rod and reel. They have banned fish that we used to sell and put closed seasons and size limits on others. It has gotten harder and harder for us to make a living fishing. The only good thing is now our kids are grown.
I never thought about retiring at 68 years old but I hurt, arthritis has set in my hand and I have torn 3 of my discs in my lower back, but I keep trying to fish.
My body is telling me to give it up but my heart says to keep fishing. So, In your opinion, when is the right time to retire?
I don't have that answer for you.
There have been a great many things working against you, and getting in the way of your living the life you chose so long ago! Regulations mostly, but those didn't stop you, you adapted.
A dear friend of mine, now 70, is pushing herself so hard to continue to achieve as much back breaking work as she has been able to do up till now. Now, if she does that much, if she does what she loves to do, she is in agony until bedtime. She is retired from her career though, as a secretary.
There are some similarities between the two of you, but your career is back-breaking, but still you love it and don't really want to stop. Can you afford to retire? You don't talk about that, except to say your kids are grown. Can you cut back, do half as much?
I did not know which community to post this to so I copied where you posted. Was I to copy and paste my post to his page like we do to dailyprompt in freewriters?
The only thing that we have going for us is we have never bought anything on credit, we own our home and our trucks, our only bills are electric, cable and internet, truck ins, property taxes, and we use Tracfone's for our cell service, it costs us 20 dollars each every 3 months, we can get by on our social security which is 1500 a month. I go to a hand surgeon tomorrow and I am hoping he does not say I need surgery, which I doubt because I am sure it is arthritis. My husband is seeing a GI doctor at the end of the month and might need a colonoscopy. These two things worry me because we only have social security and no other health insurance. As long as our health will stay good we can get by.
I really thought I would fish until the end, but it is not looking like I will be able to do this, the last time I went was in November and I came home in tears from the back and hand pain. I was pompano fishing where I used 6 rods and needed to run back and forth around the boat, June 1st trout season starts, and I will use 1 rod but I will need to run crab traps and pigfish traps every day plus fishing, I hope I can still do it.
I hope you hear all good news about things treatable. Such a beautiful story. I love it when one loves what they do and does it well.
Thank you @whitneyalexx from a little girl I knew that I wanted to be a fisherman and marry one.
What a wonderful post. I live in Scotland and very much a coastal person, I was brought up fishing, not commercially though!
But oh dear me how things have changed. They have here too, what you are allowed to catch and when etc.
I believe in doing what you love and as often as you can. So if you still love it and are able to, then I would keep going. But pains hurt, as a long term arthritis sufferer I know that!
Welcome to the community, do have a look around and post some more!
@tengolotodo Thank you for your comment, it is hard to give up what you love to do because of pain.
I think the fishing has gotten worse world wide, I am not sure what is going on elsewhere but here it was caused by man trying to change what Mother Nature set in place, our river is a brackish water lagoon, not really a river. The State has stopped most of the freshwater from entering it making it more salty and the fish and seagrass that depend on brackish water have all but vanished. They say the freshwater is polluted, and it might be but it was not hurting the lagoon until they stopped it. My theory is they need this freshwater for their treatment plants to sell back to all of the developments they are putting in. To get public opinion on their side, they would hold back the freshwater until the salinity in the lagoon was very high, then they released it all at once creating algae blooms, and the public could see the brown water and the fish kills. If you ask anyone who does not make their living on the water what is wrong, they say pollution. It was like putting freshwater into a saltwater fish tank.
Sorry about the rant but when they mess with fishermen's livelihood, it hits hard.
It sure does sound messy and unfair
yes it is
Hello @myjob
This is @tengolotodo and I want to say ....
Thank you for sharing your excellent post in the Silver Bloggers community! As a special "token" of appreciation for this contribution to our community, it has been upvoted, reblogged and curated.
Thank you @tengolotodo
If your happy in what your doing and if you still can, I think you go for it.
thank you, I am doing my best to keep fishing.
Keep Fishing... 😏 life has always a plan and IMHO it's not on us to decide that part. 😎 BTW, welcome to the Silverbloggers!
Thank you @mondoshawan yes life has a plan but it is not always what I had planned.
Hehehe... sure thing. Life is giving us always what we "need", never what we want.
@mondoshawan Truer words have never been spoken.
It sounds like fishing has become as difficult as farming with the increased regulations and tight margins, maybe even more difficult. It would be hard to give up something you've done for so many years. I can't imagine all of the knowledge you've acquired in all those years of doing it. It seems like that knowledge would be very valuable to those people who are carrying on the tradition. Maybe teaching or doing an Airbnb experience to take tourists out for the day might be an option down the road when you decide to slow down? This was a great read. Thanks for your contribution!
There are many regulations you have to go by to have people on your boat, not to mention having a fancy-looking boat to take them on. It comes down to you have to have money to make money taking people fishing. This is my boat it is only 16 feet, not big enough to carry people on.
I wasn't a full-time career woman, so "retirement" for me looks pretty much life like has always looked, just less people to cook for with the family all grown up. But I remember my older brother saying he wasn't going to retire until he had defined retirement. He is almost 79 now, and retired quite some time ago. He has kept active, hiking all over the mountains where he lives, and he has volunteered for various groups and activities from time to time. He planned what he was going to do with his extra time once he quit working. He enjoyed his job, but hiking was already his favorite hobby and now he has more time to go hiking. My husband, on the other hand, retired rather abruptly and has too much time on his hands, and no hobbies. His self-esteem was wrapped up in his job, and without that job, his self-esteem went downhill and he became depressed. So I think it's important to have figured out something else to do that you like to do, and which gives you satisfaction, before you retire from a job you really like.
Thanks, that is good advice, but here comes the BUT, I do not know what I like more than fishing. I like to hunt for fossils on the islands but now too many people have found out about them so they are hard to find, I used to love going to the beach, but now they are too crowded, I like going places and using a metal detector but now you are banned from using one on public land where you might find something. Maybe I can find something else that I like to do, and I just have not found it, yet.
Now this was a beautiful childhood you had. I wish mine was like this instead of being stuck at home, playing with toys or forced to read books I didn't want to read. I'd have preferred this to that because this, is more fun. Nothing beats being around nature.
I think the right time to retire, in my opinion is when your heart agrees with your body. When your heart is willing to let go. If one should retire when they're not ready, their heart will keep yearning for that thing and they wouldn't be happy. It's all about wanting it but then again one should consider their health too while craving for what they love.
I enjoyed reading your post.<3
Thank you for your lovely words.
When I was a child I never realized how special of a place I lived, but now I do.
I agree with what you say about retiring, but when you hurt so bad that you can no longer do the job, it is a hard decision to make. Every day my heart wants to be on the river, but when I have tried going, I come home in tears. Maybe this doctor can fix my hand, and with the meds, I can handle the back pain.
You're welcome 😊.
It excites me that you do know now. It's healthy living always being around nature.
You'll be fine I promise. Looking at the photos you shared, you're a strong woman and that inspires me.💜
Thank you, but I am not as strong as I used to be, that comes with getting older. I am glad that I inspire you, you never know what you can do if you do not try.
Wow! I am in awe. As for your question, if you feel you can still continue, you should. It can't be easy giving up what you have always loved to do.
I came in from dreemport.
Thank you @rukkie
It is not easy but for now, I am going to give it a rest and see what the surgeon can do to fix my hand.
Aww you looked so adorable as a kid, that’s lovely
I think that , your heart will never retire because of how much this means to you and that’s what matters so then you would have to listen to your body
Because from what I know, your body would have to force you to listen at some point if you don’t willingly listen.
My humble suggestion as a #dreemerforlife
Thank you for the compliment and your caring words.
You’re welcome
I love the great passion you put in what you do, and your ability to stay put despite the odds.
A wonderful story!
#dreemerforlife
Thank you @tengolotodo
You are so very welcome
It's a beautiful life story! From the beginning of reading my mind took me to Hemingway and his "Old Man and the Sea". Although I have never fished offshore, it is one of the things that still remains written on my to-do list.
The sea and fishing exert a magical attraction that invites you to immerse yourself in that world of adventures, of hard moments, but above all of great satisfactions that should fill the soul and strengthen the spirit.
I am convinced that you should never retire from what you love to do. You just have to focus first on your health, seeking to achieve "quality fishing times" in the immediate future. Make a few adjustments here and there, and then head out to sea again confident that you'll come back without any major pain in your fingers or back. Perhaps the time will come to go out to sea and accompany others in the fishing task, helping in whatever way you can, taking great care to enjoy the moment to the fullest.
That's what life is about, continuing to do what we love to do, but keeping physical pain away as much as we can.
Thank you very much dear @myjob for sharing your passion for life in a publication. I have enjoyed it to the fullest from the beginning!
I send you both a strong and affectionate hug!
@bravofenix, Thank you for your encouraging words, I spoke with a hand surgeon and hopefully, he can fix my hand where there will be no pain, he says the cartridge is gone in 2 places where the bones are rubbing together. Once he does this and I recover from it, I plan to go back fishing but it looks as if I might miss this year's trout season, it is my favorite fish to catch but I need to take care of my hand or I won't be fishing at all.
I hope that one day you can go offshore fishing if you are not doing it for work, it can be a lot of fun. I loved to go out there and do what I call play fishing (for fun).
Perhaps, in this journey of repair and recovery of an important percentage of your health, you will have to take a strategic pause, and without a doubt the price to pay for this will be expensive and sad. But I know that all that will be worth it, and you will be able to return later with much more strength to fully enjoy your beloved trout seasons.
Dear @myjob, despite all the adverse situations you are currently going through in your life, you can feel that you are a lucky and blessed person. Sometimes not all of us have, in our countries of origin, the necessary political and economic conditions that allow us to lead a "normal life" and at the same time dedicate resources and time to an activity that catches our attention or that is like a small dream that was once had.
It is my most sincere wish that your health and that of your dear husband be restored as soon as possible and that we can read, sooner rather than later, a new one of your fishing adventures loaded with the great passion that you feel for Life in the sea!
Thank you @bravofenix I am sure I will recover and in a few months be back on the river so I can write more about my fishing days.
I do feel Blessed to live the life I live and the place I live in, and I agree with you, even though I am considered poor, I live better than some people in my country and a lot better than some other countries.