Dog runs and headboards

There's a meme floating around online…

"You can just do things."

Or something to that effect.

It is a bit tiresome at times. And it's certainly been co-opted by hustle bros and the like. You know… hustle for hustle's sake types…

So, here I am, sitting in my bedroom this weekend, reading the Saturday away (is there a better way to spend a Saturday?).

I look up for a moment, deep in thought and I see our bed's headboard. And that phrase comes to mind...

"You can just do things."

And I thought… well, geeze… I guess you can.

Because, you see, I did. I built that headboard. Some 15 years ago.

We had a dog run along the rear fence where our two black labs, Harper and Lulu, spent part of the day. It was a gloriously shaded patch of yard where the St. Augustine didn't grow… thus the perfect place for a dog to loaf away the day.

That dog run was built out of cedar fencing turned lengthwise to resemble a farm fence of a sort. Me and a friend built that too now that I think of it… My abiding memory of that project was using the phrase "Good enough for government work…" during the construction and realizing later that my buddy's dad was a career federal employee.

Whatchagonnado…

Anyway, the dog run fell out of favor with my canine companions so I was left with this lovely cedar fencing. My wife wanted a new headboard. And me?

I had a vision.

So I grabbed three 2x4s from the shed. Laid the cedar across and got to drilling. And it turned out beautifully and has been our headboard ever since.

So I guess you really can just do things.

Here is the part I keep chewing on. That cedar sat in the yard for years doing nothing. Not because it was broken. It was built for dogs, the dogs quit using it, and I stopped seeing it. It went from a thing to scenery.

If you have spent a career inside a hospital system, you probably have one of those in your yard. A deferred comp plan, written years ago, designed to keep you from leaving. It did its job. You stayed. And it has been scenery ever since.

Nobody lies awake over a vesting schedule. That is not how this works. It just sits out back quietly deciding when you get to be done, and most people have not read it since the day they signed.

You can just go look at it.

That’s a thing I do. It is called the Deferred Comp and Retirement Review. I read the actual statements and plan documents and hand you back a written report in two weeks. What vests when. Where the money actually sits. What happens if you leave early. A retirement sketch too.

It is $1,250, paid up front. If you read it and do not think it was worth it, tell me and I will refund it. Just hit reply and I will send you the details.

All the best,

John Montgomery