Sorry for you loss.
Of course, there is the old saying...moderation in everything.
If you live in a cave until you are 65 spending nothing...sure, that's not a good plan, especially if you kick the bucket at 64 but the flip side is you live for today when you are in your 30-40's and retirement is which version of Alpo is for dinner.
If you get debt free, work hard and put a decent chunk of your earnings away starting early, you should be able to free up enough cash to do extra things while continuing to save...decades before you hit 65.