Every decade and every year you deal with different problems

 One of the problems often people don't plan for is retirement. Where my son worked about a year ago now a man was working at 86 years old and died working which is what happens when you don't set money aside for your retirement.

I didn't really prepare for retirement but my present wife did. I met her at 46 years of age and she was 39. She has 3 degrees including a masters degree in business specializing in non-profits so she is really smart and well disciplined and a planner.

In my 20s I realized being a planner was only going to get me dead by my self destructing so I became an opportunist instead. I realized being in the moment and being an opportunist was the only way I really was going to be able to stay alive anyway.

After all my plans for my life didn't work out I realized this.

I'm not someone who deals with disappointment well either.

So, thinking on your feet in the moment and starting my own businesses or buying them worked out much better for me and traveling a lot when I could.

However, I only went to Canada and Mexico (outside mostly of the western states) before I was 37 and then went from December 1985 to April of 1986 with my then wife and three children to Japan, Thailand, India and Nepal.

Now this was more than like going to another planet or maybe better said "Each country was another planet with India and Nepal the most similar of any two other countries.

We went to Japan first and this one is the most like the United States but also different.

Next, we went to Thailand and at this point you know "Toto we aren't in Kansas anymore!"

Next we went to Nepal and this was interesting but completely different from Thailand or Japan.

Then we went to India and this was completely then like going to another planet because it (or was) completely different on every level than life her in the U.S.

So, half the time I had no idea what was going on there culturally at all.

But, the advantage of India and Nepal is that most people there (who are educated at all) speak English.

The hardest time we had getting people to speak English with us was Thailand and you cannot even read the script because it is all in Thai (at least then in 1985 and 1986)

But, at least in India English is the least offensive language of the 300 other languages spoken there.

So, I'm not sure how much India has changed since 1985 and 1986 because I was busy getting my kids through high school and college after that because they were only 10 to 14 years old the 3 of them then in 1985.

So, we all survived this Trip!

By God's Grace