Retirement strikes some people like a bolt of lightning that violently strips their identity from them. Others feel the bonds of a kind of slavery being slashed; they feel liberated, free. I’m on the cusp of retirement myself and was not sure if I stood with one of the extremes, or tried to cling to the middle ground. Then I happened on an essay from A Deep Breath of Life by Alan Cohen. He says, “All identities serve us temporarily…..but then we must grow beyond them. For any affiliation you can identify yourself with, there is a grander one available; we must let go of what we were to become who we are. …..There is a bigger room to live in.” Or a better, more beautiful road to travel? He refers to our essence, our Spirit, of course. What wisdom!