I am well on my way.

I had no expectations or plans & I have basically careened through life. Enjoyably I might add . . .

Ian

Considering being from a broken home at 14, tossed from the nest at 18 I'd say it turned out much better than expected. No expectations here either.
Six figure income without a college education, have done a bunch of things I never thought I would or could do.
Job sucked for 17 years, (automotive supplier at the OEM level), but still with the same company, working on 26 years, just a different SBU so that has even gotten better.
But I don't have a well prepared 944 or Mustang ;)

You are the un model musician then. Good for you. I gave all that crap up years ago myself, including booze. It made me a better person, and a better player as well. In our profession it is so commonplace it's easy to assume one has experienced it as well. You must be a pillar of strength. So NO you don't need it. Take that from the voice of experience.

Led a charmed life from as early as I can remember. Lucky to marry the woman I did and 34 years later she still takes care of me. A beautiful daughter 29. A handsome son of 23. Both very succesful and happy. They will be my greatest accomplishment in life. Great jobs, good money, retired 2 years ago full retirement, great seperation package house and all cars paid off. 2 of the only Porsches I ever wanted in perfect shape.

Then last summer all those years of going to beaches, running 30+ years without a shirt. Skin cancer. Several operations later mon I find out if I still have mellanoma. I have stage 4 so damn the luck or not things could get real dicey. I've come to terms with it all now but that took awhile.

Starting a 4,000 mile west coast road trip mid sept in the 356. My docs have told me do not wait. So off I go.

Sure didn't end up as expected.

The dream (7-17yrs) was fighter pilot and then on to a fulfilling life as a Capt. for a major airline...:rolleyes:....money, sports cars, women, skiing, camping, hunting, fishing, freedom...;)

Then life happened. :eek:

Moved out at 18, went to work building power lines, apprenticeship, promotions, 4 different Utilities.

One wife for a year, next one for 30 (so far)..:D 4 great kids, (educated, grown and now gone)....:D

Able to retire at 55, No debt except house. Finally able to get the pilot's license in '91'. Able to start buying sports cars again in 2000 (as my kids say it was the year of the dad.) :D

Now a little teaching, a little consulting, a little flying, camping, fishing

Didn't come close to what I expected.....it's alot better, and I still say thank-you every night.

Karl
88 Targa

Yikes - best of luck with the fight. Facing one's own mortality is perhaps the more feared challenge in life. As long as you're upright...you're upright. The reality is that every trip we take could be our last. Enjoy the ride and stop to smell the oil...

+ a google.


SmileWavy

I met some willing, loyal soldiers in the Sexual Revolution. Wish it hadn't ended....

when I was 18 I figured I was destined for great things

when I was 24 I hoped I was adequate for above average things

when I was 30 I was glad to be comfortable

When I was 33 I got laid off, and my wife was 7 months pregnant. I was terrified, but I put together a plan and stuck to it. Those were the toughest 2 years of my life, but you know what? Now I'm 35 and I figure I'm destined for great things. Nice to be back on track!

Spent my whole life wondering what I was going to do when I grew up-took all the "Vocational Counselling" courses I could afford-nothing. Finally had a group of friends over for dinner with the express purpose of finding a life for me. One suggested "run a country inn" and a bright light went on in my head. I found an old waterfront inn on an island off Vancouver, renovated it and ran it for twelve years with my missus. Found a derelict 43 foot sailboat, restored that and took guest sailing every afternnoon for fifty bucks a head-sometimes I would have twelve on board.
People would look at me and say " Your getting paid for this?". Then we got bored, sold the inn, sold the boat and now I'm wondering what I going to do when I grow up...

Sounds like a great adventure! Enjoy yourself.
BTW my ex MIL was given similar advice 10 years ago. She always wanted to go to Vegas, so we went. She's gone back 9 times - every september. Hopefully you'll have many, many more west coast trips in that tub.

I only knew that I was joining the military out of HS. There was no way I had the discipline to go to college classes, or the means to pay for them. My folks did good just raising 5 boys and I knew I wouldn't ask them to help.

When I signed up with the USMC i was planning on one tour and out, then using the college benefits. Well 20yrs 6 months and 1 days later I retired.

Now I lucked into working for the Air Force doing the EXACT same thing I did in the Corps.

I saw other jobs that paid more, but I seriously like what i do.

No way i could have imagined this, let alone 3 wonderful kids and a great wife of 21 years.

I'm turning 40 next week and just had a back to back 18 hour weekend road trip, so spend a little time thinking about this topic. The details are not as planned, but the broad brush is pretty close. I have the job I wanted when I was 17 (portfolio manager) and married to my girlfriend I had at 17. Looking back on it, I got lucky. But I also remember Jefferson's quote: "I'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it."

Biggest difference is moving to Pittsburgh 3 years ago, from Dallas. Never thought I'd live in the Northeast.

It also took much longer to join the Porsche club, just this month. My advice to younger guys: Start the hobbies as soon as possible with whatever budget you can muster, easier as a bachelor.

If you could turn back time 10 yrs and show the 16yr old me where I am today, I'd have laughed my ass off and told you that you were insane. Life is different than I planned and some aspects are downright confusing, but life is pretty good. Actually, life seems pretty complete except for one thing and I'm working on that.

my life did not turn out as I expected it would, but it is better than I could have hoped for

Mine's completely different. As a teen, I dreamt of being an accountant and driving a dark blue Jaguar XJ6 and look at me now - a banker that drives a black BMW! It's been a rollercoaster ride, I'll tell ya. :)

I've pretty much got the life I wanted back then, with some adjustments allowed for experience (like learning what trouble Jags were and how boring accounting was). The teen-aged me would be pretty pleased overall, if a time machine brought him by. Surprised to learn he'd grow 5 inches after high school was over, and dismayed that I sold his prized issue of Amazing Spider-Man #1 in the 90s, given how much they're worth now.

I ended up only doing 11.5 years of my 20 year career with the Navy. All do to depression, which was a real life changer. It ended my first marriage of 10 years as well. So in short, nothing happened as planned. I went for a year and a half of being unemployed shortly after getting out. I did go to school during that unemployment to start a new career. Got my A & P licenses so I could be a aircraft mechanic, but ended up working for a company that commissions new GE wind turbines. Good job and I love the work. Seems like life doesn't always go as planned but I learn to overcome and adapt. Who knows whats next.

I am in the middle of big life change right now (new job, 2000 miles away from old house and family), and it will take few more months for the dust to settle and our new life to get back together. But so far, so good. I feel good about my new career direction, I resonate with the area I live in. Life feels like a new adventure again. Life is going to be about quality again: more vacations, more fly fishing, more driving the 911 in sunny weather...
I was blessed to marry a great wife and have an adorable daughter. Looking back, the only thing I would have done differently is not buy a $500k house in 2007...

You do the walk of life, my friends:

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