One of the answers which seems to come up often as I inquire of friends how they define the goodness in themselves is their volunteerism. They have either continued and expanded the work they were doing before they reitred, or begun to volunteer in projects and causes which interest them.
I have expanded my volunteer work with Coastwalk, where I have been Treasurer for the past few years. The organization has been the primary advocate for California coastal access since the passage of Proposition 20 in 1976, which established the California Coastal Commission. Known for leading statewide and local county walks on the coast, it has been working for the past few years to secure, map and publicize the California Coastal Trail.
I have established a separate blog:
to help coastal activists be alerted to, and advocate in, coastal access issues which come before local, regional and state regulatory bodies.
I have also begun another volunteer project which returns to some work I did a few years ago as a staff member in the early years of the California Children and Families Commissions. These were the state and county commissions which were authorized to collect and spend cigarette taxes for children's programs under Proposition 10 on the November, 1998 Statewide Election.
I was very involved in the early stages of organizing California's implemenentation of this law, and I am now going to use a web blog to engage those early pioneers in a discussion of how they feel in turned out. I have established a separate blog:
to assist me in recruiting and engaging my colleagues to undertake the review.
Finally, I'm researching blogs which have also begun to ask questions of retirement:
