Into retirement & Life's Rules.
Retirement didn’t mean an end to our collection of grandchildren! We are up to six now.
Bev & Ian gave us Ethan in 2005.
The world had changed but I remained the same like all old people. In my day, you fell in love, got engaged, got married & had children. Now you shuffle the cards & do it in any order you fancy and they’re none the worse for it.
Emma & Mick decided to get married in that year and soon gave us Ruby in 2006.
In 2008, Bev & Ian had our latest addition to the family with Holly Jessica at 25 past 5 in the morning of 17th August, weighing in at 7lb 5oz.
My kids have produced wonderful grand children and they are a credit to them. Joanne studied to do what she has always wanted to do at university, nursing. (I never knew what I wanted to do ever). Amy is going to become truly bilingual by living in France, most of the time, with her mum (I always wanted to have a second language) Jake is into football & Ethan is coping with a new baby sister very well. They are as smart as whips & going to do very well at school (I certainly didn’t). Ruby is a truly contented little smiler & currently trying to nag my to death with her no-stop chatter. (Nothing I did, it was all Mick & Emma’s doing!) and who knows what Holly Jessica will bring us, apart from just starting to walk on her 1st. birthday in 2009, plus lots of joy!
It's now 2011 & tempus fugit as they say. Kath & I decided to split up & live your separate lives, we were very lucky to be able to live in the same house & support each other remaining friends, purely so that neither of us would be left in a bad financial position.
To cap it all off, I got a bad form of cancer in my prostate. Not the usual kind of prostate cancer, but small cell that is very aggressive & according to my oncologist, will come back one day & get me!
When you get to this age you always want to pass on advice to help the younger generation. (Yes, its sad I know!)
As I was never smart enough, don’t try following my example! But Bill Gates gave a speech at a High School about things you did not, and will not learn in school. He talks about how the cult of the celebrity and politically correct teachings has created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.
Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it now!
Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. You decide what you want to do & you have to work for it. Your going to be doing it for longer than you think, so make sure its something you enjoy.
Rule 3: If you think your teachers were tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 4: Starting at the bottom is not beneath your dignity. Your Great Grandparents had a different word this: they called it opportunity.
Rule 5: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 6: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes, buying the house you live in and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try cleaning up your own room.
Rule 7: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 8: Life is not divided up like school. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 9: Television is NOT real life. Reality T.V. isn’t. “Being famous” isn’t a real career opportunity.
Rule 10: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
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Can I add one of my own?
Its not called junk food for nothing. They just want you to spend your money on their stuff. They do not care if it harms a nation slowly; they just want to make a profit.
Try and do something you want to do. It’s a lot more fun. Most jobs have their bad side, if you work at something you enjoy; it won’t be all boring or drive you to distraction!
Just don’t follow my example! I started off life with nothing ... and luckily I've still got most of it left.
Lots of Love, Granddad Frank
Granddad's favourite pictures