My Next Thirty Years?

Last month while enjoying my vacation in Mallorca, Spain, my wife who is a tennis fanatic suggested we spend an afternoon at the Rafael Nadal tennis academy in the city of Manacor. (Well I have been there and done that...complete with tee shirt and hat from four years ago. She hates museums, I’m not into tennis, so I suggested she go without me.)

During the hour or so drive to Manacor we were listening to tunes from my wife’s iPhone and one song hit me with a reality check - Tim Mc Graw’s “My Next Thirty Years.” That got me thinking, good lord thirty years from now I will be a ripe well-seasoned ninety-eight-year-old! So I started to think “what about my next fifteen?”

No, I'm thinking something a bit sooner...like my next five years. Just in case you are a new reader, I have been a practicing goldsmith and jeweler most of my life, began my apprenticeship at the tender age of twelve. I’m currently sixty-eight and simple math will show you I have been at my trade for like forever...or fifty-six years for those of you like myself, who have trouble with numbers. I can assure you of one thing - I won’t be making jewelry thirty years from now. Heaven may want me sooner supervising the creation of gold halos, or in the worst-case scenario, overlooking the manufacturing of silver pitchforks.

Needless to say, working fifty-six years at any job is a long time. I currently have customers who have “retired” before the age of fifty-five and some sooner than that! So you could say I have “overpaid my dues”!

Not too long ago, we well-seasoned island residents had a time we called the “dog days of summer” or what is known on the rock as “off season.” Many island business owners and staff finally get to catch their breath and hopefully grab some chill time to enjoy the fruits of all our labors. This opportunity even allowed many of us to take vacations or even spruce up our establishments for the next soon to be upcoming season. 

I, for one, especially fall in this category after enduring my twenty-ninth season on the island.

Lately it’s apparent to many of us business owners that the “off season” window of self-enjoyment is quite smaller than it used to be.

I apologize to “those”* people for not being at their beck and call eight days a week during the summer months. This Super Jeweler’s endurance level ain’t what it used to be. I’m holding that summer window of opportunity open with a stick.

So if you have a hankering of seeing me personally you may want to call ahead to make sure I’m in the shop. My shop is staffed by competent employees who also happen to include my eldest daughter and my son who, in my opinion, is one of most talented goldsmiths in Southwest Florida.

Funny thing I have noticed is the shop runs like a well-oiled Singer sewing machine with or without my presence (most likely better without!) My late summer European sojourns and buying trips have proved fruitful - we discover new trends every time we go. I brought back from Italy the now popular “paper clip link chain” to Marco Island years before it became popular in the U.S.

The Covid pandemic put a damper on my Euro-buying trips the last couple of years but now I have returned after three weeks with some new trendy designs that will be available the coming holiday and 2023 season. Can’t reveal anything about my newly found treasures yet - my customers know I never disappoint, especially after twenty-five plus years bringing back jewelry and cutting-edge designs that when worn people say...wow!

I have learned it comes down to one simple thing: if you work hard all your life, be sure to leave time to travel, enjoy life and the ones you love and cherish. You may not have the luxury of having your next thirty years to do so.

Have a great and safe summer!

* See my past article in the Coastal Breeze News titled Suit Yourself about “them and those” to understand my meaning here.