By Kristin Carpenter
You can do everything “right.” Eat well. Exercise. Do the research. Save the money. Plan ahead. And yet, life can still fall apart.
Dave retired on June 5, and the weeks that followed looked nothing like the retirement we had planned.
Yikes.
When Retirement Plans Meet Real Life
We bought a house in Wyoming so we could be closer to our kids, but it quickly turned into our own version of The Money Pit. We soon discovered some major issues that hadn’t been apparent when we bought the house.
We spent weeks working nonstop on drainage problems that flooded our basement twice, sprinkler issues that caused yet another flood, and one repair after another. Every time we fixed one thing, something else seemed to break.
We decided to take a break and go camping, only to discover the refrigerator in our camper wasn’t working. At the same time, our air conditioner at home had been out for more than two weeks during a stretch of record-breaking 100-degree temperatures.
We had also been looking forward to friends visiting so we could take a trip together to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore and do some hiking. Instead, our friend became very ill, ended up in the ER, and had to cancel.
And then came the news we never expected.
Dave was diagnosed with cardiovascular disease.
He maintains a healthy weight, exercises faithfully, and eats better than most people I know. At the time, I sat in the cardiologist’s office while he underwent a long list of tests, wondering what they might find. Thankfully, those tests later brought us reassuring news.
When the Challenges Started to Wear on Me
As I’ve reflected on all of this, I’ve prayed through it, but I’ll admit there were times when I struggled to stay spiritually focused.
During that time, I came across something in a devotional on the YouVersion Bible app that really spoke to me. It described how spiritual struggles can sometimes show up in subtle ways—not necessarily as a crisis of faith, but as a gradual loss of enthusiasm for prayer, a sense of distance from God, or a fading passion for the gifts and purposes He’s placed in our lives.
That caught my attention.
I hadn’t stopped believing. I hadn’t stopped praying. But somewhere in the middle of all the unexpected challenges, I’d allowed the frustrations and worries of everyday life to distract me from the things that mattered most.
If I’m honest, I recognized myself in that description.
Those first months of retirement hadn’t looked anything like we imagined. So much of the time together and with our family that we’d pictured had unfolded very differently than we’d planned.
But as I look back now, I also remember.
Remembering What Went Right
I remember the countless days I spent outside beside Dave while he dug trench after trench for the new drainage system. I remember helping him install three ceiling fans to fight the relentless heat.
I remember our grandsons proudly carrying their little shovels to help Grandalf dig in the backyard and then chasing him with water guns to cool him off.
I remember the evening we watched fireworks with them and our daughter.
I remember waking up at 4:00 a.m. to support our other daughter as she worked at her company’s new coffee truck, and watching dozens of hot air balloons rise into the Wyoming sky against the backdrop of the mountains.
I remember that camping trip with the broken refrigerator that still gave us time to visit the zoo and enjoy being with our son and daughter-in-law.
And I remember the South Dakota trip that ended up being just the two of us. It wasn’t what we’d planned, but we unexpectedly hiked through Badlands National Park and spent miles exploring Custer State Park together.
The plans changed, but the blessings didn’t disappear.
Looking back now, I realize that in the middle of all those unexpected challenges, the blessings were there all along.
And they still are.
Finding the Rainbows
Life brings difficulties in every season. Retirement doesn’t exempt us from hardship simply because we’ve planned and prepared for it.
But woven into those hard days are beautiful little rainbows—small reminders of God’s goodness that bring hope, joy, and the strength to keep going.
It’s not always easy to see them.
But they’re there.
And maybe that’s where gratitude grows the deepest—not when life goes according to plan, but when we choose to see God’s faithfulness even when it doesn’t.
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Check out my other posts in Kristin’s Corner.
When has retirement surprised you—and what unexpected blessing did you discover along the way?
