This thread makes me smile as it reminds me of my Grand-dad.
He always wore the same Velcro shoes. Kind of light gray. Towards the end of his life, he went in and bought a bunch of the same shoes, and told the employee that 'these will be all the shoes I'll need for the rest of my life'. Totally depressed the employee. LOL. He knew he roughly used one pair every year or two, and I think he bought 10 pairs. He lived to be 94 - not sure if he outlasted his shoe stash or not.
My grand-dad was always retired from the time I can remember. He must have retired at least by 60, as that's how old he was when I was born. Towards the end he ran out of money, and pretty much left zero behind, but I think he had a really good retirement. When we'd go to visit, he'd get up early, make coffee and oatmeal, do his stretches, then spent time feeding hummingbirds, tending his garden, and talking with neighbors. I have memories of him riding his bike every morning to the store, to get fresh fruit and other staples. Unfortunately, a bad bike accident put a premature end to his riding, so those are very early memories I have. Since we were out of town guests, he'd take us to Disneyland (he lived in N. Hollywood) where he had a season pass, and loved to introduce us to Cast Members with whom he was friendly.
He's pretty much my model for early retirement, even if he didn't retire super early. He kept busy, had loads of friends, and was a very good grandfather.
