Thursday night last, Rob and I attended a retirement gathering for a friend of his from work. The gentleman and his wife are relocating to Vancouver Island, a place I have longed to visit but haven’t made it to yet. Perhaps this is because I fear that I won’t want to leave?

Rob’s friend and his wife are not a lot older than Rob and I. Not more than ten years. In certain respects though they are more his contemporaries than mine due to the adult children and grandchildren (no neither of the girls is in the “family” way but it is something we have braced for – Rob more than me as he has a real horror about it which is funny in someone who made his own mother a grandma at 41).

We talk a lot about the retirement. But in generalities. We have no idea where. Or what he will be doing (me being a writer seems decided). It’s not realistic to think we will do the traveling and hobby thing. Our generation will be the first to not retire that way. Not many retirees will have a high schooler and then university to factor in as we will, but there are more of us than one would think.

I watched more than I spoke at the gathering. Later Rob asked me if I had survived not knowing anyone and honestly I didn’t find it much of a trial. I have spent a year not really knowing anyone and before that I had spent about 3 years being a visible ghost. I am quite comfortable in my role as wall flora.

No one expected me to talk anyway. One woman gave me hard looks when she thought I wasn’t looking. Another dismissed me once she discovered I didn’t have a job and just talked to Rob. The host’s son and his wife were quite nice and of course Best Man was there.

Best Man was just that a year plus ago at our wedding. He is about the age of my late husband, a French-Canadian with a wicked sense of humor, he spent the night before our wedding fighting off the attention of Rob’s mother and ElderDaughter. Were it not too personal I would launch into the awkward tale of how Rob’s Best Man and his oldest daughter hooked up for a time, but enough has been said.

Fortunately, we still have Best Man in our life. Sometimes things don’t work out and yet they still do.

Best Man lamented that he is not the story-teller that his dad and younger brother were not being gifted with the gene necessary.

“I got the hamburger eating gene.”

He really does have the gene. Actually, both. And he went on to tell the tale of nearly rolling a golf cart off the side of a mountain while Rob and his brother-in-law watched to see which way he would tip before intervening.

As we were leaving the host couple reminded us that we are always welcome to visit them. Funny but we have more standing invitations awaiting us on Vancouver Island than anywhere else.

A sign perhaps.