This will be my sixth and final report on how I'm adjusting to retirement. Why the last one? Because I think I have this retirement thing down. Work is a distant memory. I'm sleeping 8-10 hours a night after twenty years of getting 7 hours or less. I'm just recovering from a lung infection and this cold weather has kept Dorothy and I from walking so I've gained some weight and I'm out of shape, but Spring is just around the corner and I'll take care of those problems soon.
I see the need for self discipline. I have to make myself start the remodeling projects on my agenda, and even though I love to paint I'm having trouble getting started. I have a huge piece of masonite already covered in gesso, sketched out and ready to go, but I keep putting it off.
My job as a volunteer for the fire dept. is a real stretch for me. Responding to the fire calls is very physically demanding, and I'll be kept busy as their secretary, setting up their computer system, scheduling training, reporting to the national incident management system, etc.
Tomorrow I hope to start tilling the garden. This snow has moistened the ground to the point that I can till without letting the topsoil blow away as dust. I'm anxious to get some seeds in the ground, especially since Marley (6) and Hunter (3) are going to help. When Tara and Sami were little I put a sign on the highway and they sold my tomatoes to passersby to make a little cash, so I'm giving the two little ones the same opportunity.
I have some trips planned. We're taking Tara and Sami to New York as a graduation present. Sami won't graduate until next year but this will just be an early gift for her. We also have a wedding/family reunion to attend in July, and we'd like to fit in a trip to the Bahamas sometime this year. After all, it will be our 40th anniversay in August and you can't let that pass without a celebration.
We've had a modicum of success selling on eBay and Amazon and I hope to pursue that a little more. It's always good to augment a modest retirement income, especially to avoid either of us going back to work. I'm beginning to react to that word the way Maynard G. Krebbs did.
So all in all retirement has been good for me. I like spending time with Dorothy. After all these years I'm getting acquainted with my neighbors. Most of the guys on the fire dept. went to school with my daughters and now I'm getting to know them as men. I'm not sitting in the porch swing watching the cars go by, but you know what? I think I'll set aside some time just for that.
2 comments:
Funny, from your picture I was going to say it looked like you had lost some weight. I need to start my garden too - the little guy has been on my case about some vegetables.
You have this retirement down pat;
volunteering, travel, hobbies, family, and a porch swing. You have a great life!
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