We Should Have Retired at Twenty-Five!

Now that my husband and I have reached the "golden years of retirement" I've developed the belief that all young couples and young parents should go through retirement when all that free time could be put to better use. Imagine having the time to make last minute decisions to just have fun all day long, to go to the playground with your children, to enjoy relaxing, impromptu dinners out with your spouse, or just to sleep late cuddling your pussycats and each other.

 

Instead of working 9-to-5, or MUCH longer as many did in order to pay the bills, it would have been nice to have FAMILY TIME, to watch your kids grow close up and to laugh with them every day. Oh of course they would have had to go to school but by 3-0'clock it would have been fun, family time. And bedtimes could have been fudged… now our kids are busy with their own jobs and commitments, busy building towards their own eventual retirements and free time.

 

 

My husband and I are enjoying our days together and Thank G-d we do have each other… because that's another thing, there are folks in our age bracket who just aren’t around anymore. So, we got TECHNICALLY old and now we have the time to act on a whim. During the winters and other rough weather while we listen to the weather advisories not to drive, we don't because we don't have to. We hear from our neighbors about how long it took them to get to work because of all the traffic delays… and all we did was stare at the weather out the window and drink a steaming cup of tea.

 

We are so fortunate that our offspring and their other halves do make time for us, for the old folks, but they have commitments and we have to schedule those precious get-togethers to fit their busy schedules. Meanwhile we can wake up with a last-minute plan for the day, we can decide to be lazy or go for a drive just to see the sights. Don't misunderstand, we stay busy, there is always something to do. But it really would have been nice to have had this much free time when we were younger.

 

We are enjoying ourselves and I love being able to spend so much time together with the love of my life, but it still takes getting used to. Hopefully we'll get used to the leisure life for a lot more years.

 

The Ninth Day

It was approximately nine days ago when our county issued a “Declaration of Disaster” and issued a strong recommendation that we all STAY HOME; “We encourage --- residents to stay home except for essential needs, to get food, care for a relative or friend, get necessary healthcare or go to an essential job. It is okay to go outside for walks if you are not in a group. Stay at least six feet apart when leaving your home for essential activities.”

To be perfectly honest, my sweet husband is recuperating after surgery and it isn’t all that easy for him to get around right now anyway — all we did have planned (due to his surgery) was to only go out for doctor follow-up visits and to buy necessary perishable staples for the next few weeks. Our pantry and freezer are fairly well stocked, my hubs is a terrific shopper and always stocks up when he sees a good sale. The only grocery concern I really have is preparing for Passover and staying local which does not really give us much choice in the prescribed foods for our traditions.

Staying home these days didn’t really change much of what we had planned to do, but the concept that we SHOULD NOT be mingling with the outside world is a bit mind-boggling and restrictive. And the one big thing that is suffocating is not being able to have our family come visiting, especially our kids. Our daughter has helped to ease some of that particular loneliness with multiple videos she sends us and even a lengthy video chat while she walked our darling grand-pup (my cats don’t understand why we love the dog so much, lol). Our daughter-in-love calls by phone whenever she has a chance and sends texts often. Both our son and son-in-love tend to leave most of the communication to their gals, but we do receive messages from each time to time.

Basically if you have friends or family you miss seeing, think of how lucky we are with phones, emails, video chats, Facebook and so many other ways to connect remotely. Be sure to make use of them and share everyday things with those you care about. Don’t let anyone feel alone.

Being semi-forced to stay-at-home can actually be a blessing in disguise. We all lead such harried lives we never really have time to just sit back and relax. Play a board game with your family. Curl up for a Netflix movie with your spouse. Read a book and even if you don’t have one handy, order an e-book on your computer or smart phone, there’s even a whole bunch available for free. Organize all of your pictures and scan those important documents onto your computer for reference and record-keeping. If you have children at home, find some terrific YA books you can read together.

Talking of children, how many times have we joked about things we learned in school that we don’t think we have much use for these days? Well spend some of your at-home time teaching your children a few of those other skills like cooking, sewing, balancing checkbooks, gardening, working on the car, cleaning and (if you have younger children as well) childcare. Many teachers are helping by sending lesson plans via email or social media, but whether they do or not read some history books (or even watch the History channel on TV), play math games, host your own spelling bee. There are so many ways to make your “playing” very productive.

Maybe now is the time for YOU to pick up a few new skills, learn something that has always interested you, and simply bathe yourself in new knowledge. Many online workshops are being offered, find Writing workshops, Kabballah, foreign languages, Yoga, business practices, and even emergency preparation classes… and you can do it all from home at your own schedule and often for free or very little cost. If you’ve ever wanted to reinvent yourself this could very well be the time.

Maybe, just maybe, all of this forced free time could just be the thing we need to revitalize. Stay Heathy!