Question: What do you appreciate most about your retirement?

I ask this question after seeing so many friends and acquaintances finding new lives and new relationships in the condominiums of Florida.

As one former Long Islander put it, "As a kid in Brooklyn my family couldn't afford to send me to camp. I was jealous of the kids on my block who went away in the summer and didn't have to suffer on the hot sidewalks. Now in Florida, I look forward to every day. With all my new friends and neighbors there is so much to do. I have learned to play bridge. I have learned to play golf and canasta. Every day I am going to lunch at somebody's house. I love every new day! I feel like I am finally at camp and I don't have to envy anyone any more."

Of course the best of all possible worlds is to be happy and free, both as a child and in later life. That is the ideal. But the ideal is not always the scenario. Financial difficulties, strained marriages, sicknesses and insecurity are facts of life when we are growing up. Childhood has its natural restraints and decisions are usually made for you.

Hopefully we can arrive at our retirement years in good health, be financially capable and with a positive attitude. Then it doesn't matter where you spend your senior years. Florida is fine but so is Long Island. With research, this life can be found in many Long Island communities. Seniors have opted for the bright lights of Manhattan. Golfing in the Big Apple is out, but what about all those Broadway shows, the museums, the international restaurants and Central Park?

To be free as an adult has many ramifications. Live close to your children? That can be good or it can have complications. Leave your favorite physician, dentist, accountant and lawyer and start finding new ones can also be tricky.

Now that we are supposedly mature we can make our own decisions. We have the opportunity to go or to stay where we are. Each of us has his/her own agenda, desires and dreams.

"You pays your money and you takes your choice!" That was stated by a pharmacology professor at NYU Dental School, and it holds true even today.