By Corinne Scott
It’s the beginning of February already – that means we’re nearly one-third of the way through the first quarter of the new year!
I tend to think in terms of numbers, fractions and investments, which is probably why I have been elected to look after the treasurer’s position with the Hospital Foundation and Kitimat Valley Housing Society. I love numbers – they make sense!
My entire adult life has been planned around five-year increments. While I was still working I always planned five years ahead – where do I want to be, where would I like to live, where do I want to be in my career, how much would I like to be earning?
This method in planning my life has always stood me in good stead, until I retired that is. I have never lived anywhere in my life for longer than five to seven years.
I retired and moved to Kitimat 13 years ago this year, which means I’ve lived here twice as long as anywhere else in my entire life. I love this community and don’t feel the need to think of where I want to go next and really have no intention of moving again.
Do I miss my career? I did at first, as I spent 30-odd years in local government and loved the planning, economic development, and budgeting. I always wanted the community for which I was responsible to operate as close to private industry as possible as far as accountability, efficiency, fiscal responsibility and long-range planning.
I got those traits from running a private business with my husband and later my sons as a sideline to my full-time job. I’m happy to say that following my retirement my sons are still operating the ‘family business’ very successfully. Retirement is really just the start of the next phase of life which could include travelling, devoting more time to hobbies and volunteering.
Most of my retired friends wonder how they had time to work – they are busier in retirement than they remember being when they were working. I still have drawers full of loose photos that I was going to organize, scan and label when I retired. Almost 13 years later those photos are still waiting for me.
Which brings me back to volunteering, which occupies the time of many retired people, myself included.
Volunteering is a great way to keep busy, to be socially involved and to occupy your mind. You can lend your life-time of experience and skills in various ways for the betterment of the whole community. It provides a sense of satisfaction and purpose to life.
There are numerous organizations in our community that need volunteers to remain viable and able to continue their wonderful contributions to making Kitimat a great place to live.
Strangely, other than a spreadsheet on the District of Kitimat website (which doesn’t have contact information for the Kitimat Valley Housing Society), I couldn’t find another concise list of organizations in the district.
My next endeavour will be to try to list as many of the organizations as possible and how our retirees can become involved.
Stay tuned!