If you could retire right now, would you?

After 21 years in office, Mayor Richard M. Daley will not seek a 7th term. Who knows who Chicago will pick next, and for right now I do not care, but I’m struck by something Daley said in his announcement:

“The truth is that I’ve been thinking about this for the last several months. And in the last several weeks, I’ve been increasingly comfortable with my decision. It just feels right.”

NPR is playing the quote repeatedly and I see it in every news article about Chicago’s sudden power scramble. Daley has spent more than two decades as this city’s leading man, and I expected him to do at least another term, despite the budget shortfall and his wife’s battle with cancer. But he won’t. He doesn’t want to. He’s done his best and he wants to move on.

Which made me wonder: If I could retire right now, would I?

Well, no. I like the idea of a life of leisure, but I also know I get restless. I’m only 28, anyway. I couldn’t have possibly done my best just yet. I have no laurels to rest on — just a pile of “pretty cool” and “that’s neat” quality achievements.

Would you?