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.

 

One of Those Days

Did you ever have one of those days when you can’t seem to get anything done? Actually, I think I’ve had that feeling almost since mid-March 2020. With places closed, lockdowns, isolating, and almost complete boredom, I feel like I have lost the past year of my life. And as a retiree, I really can’t afford to lose a year here or there!

 

Hubs and I are trying to get an appointment to get the COVID-19 vaccine, our state opened it to our age group a little while back, but there doesn’t seem to be enough supply to go around. I am not thrilled about the idea of taking the vaccine, but I am also not thrilled about the idea of possibly getting sick with the COVID virus. Yes, I do believe there is such a threat out there, it’s not a hoax, I know folks who have had it and while, yes, for some it seemed like a bad case of the flu, I’ve known others who have been hospitalized for months… and I’ve known a couple who have died after getting sick with it. Having a pre-existing condition doesn’t make you die, folks who have had pre-existing conditions have usually lived a lot of years WITHOUT dying.

 

But I digress. I am looking forward to seeing family and friends again, to going into a restaurant with my husband and having a nice dinner out, to going into the local casino (I may not be a big gambler, but I do enjoy that), and most of all not feeling so trapped. I’ve been very blessed to be “isolated” with my husband and to have family and friends who don’t mind spending some time on ZOOM or one of the other internet-based communication methods. I’ve gotten to attend a few conferences VIRTUALLY, I attend my RWA chapter board meetings online, once in a while I sit in my easy chair at home and watch my community’s Board of Directors as they deal with our POA’s business, I had the opportunity to sit in on the live streams of two family weddings, and of course I interact with lots of friends on FaceBook.

 

But I want a feeling of normalcy again. Passover is a little more than a month away and I would love to have my kids and their spouses at the table — last Passover my daughter “hosted” the second seder night on ZOOM. I have a grand niece who will soon be one whole year old… and I’ve never seen her in person. And I miss seeing peoples’ smiles, I want to see mouths again.

 

I LOST A YEAR OF MY LIFE AND
I CAN’T WAIT TO START LIVING AGAIN!
(sorry for the outburst)

 

When life is really open again, I mean when we can get together without counting the heads, when we don’t have to strain to hear each other from behind the masks, and when we can shake someone’s hand and hug our loved ones — what do YOU plan to do first? I’m thinking maybe going to a movie theatre, if any of them are still open that is.

 

 

#MondayBlogs ~ Man plans and God laughs

Throughout our lives the unexpected has a way of startling us, it's not always something bad or good... just something we didn't plan on.

Maybe it's the child who finds a box of crayons and a beautiful expanse of empty wall just before that company you so want to impress is due to show up.

Maybe it's the feline who's perturbed that you enjoyed a vacation away and left the poor kitty home alone with only the twice-daily visits from a caring neighbor to dole out food and now, well, kitties do have their unique way of making a statement... (sigh) right on your luggage.

Or maybe it's the car that wouldn't start causing you to miss that important business interview, you know, the one that held the promise of a promotion.

There are also plenty of great outcomes that were born from plans that went awry like the career choice that never came to fruition because of "budget cuts" and the alternate fall back that led to meeting that special person and a lifetime of joy.

I once listened to someone tell us of his five-year plan which he had scheduled down to the day and it just didn't work out that way. Despite the plan being trashed, today he's a happy family man with a house, loving wife, impressive offspring and a job he enjoys.

Life may not be the plans you thought you wanted, you may be dealt very different opportunities. Sometimes your perfect dinner plan now includes a mural by Crayola, sometimes the washer and dryer need to run all night so that you can be prepared for work the next day. And sometimes you feel like you've been blindsided and may never catch your breath again — but you do.

Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.

~John Lennon

Have you ever heard of the Paperbag Players? These talented improvisation actors take a paperbag filled with random items and perform a skit based on the contents and nothing else. This is a good example of how we need to live our lives using the items at hand. 

Never throw your hands up in surrender because of all the things that "went wrong", instead just grab it all and make it work. Be flexible, be productive, and be happy.

What are YOUR plans for Valentine's Day?

from FaceBook Minions Fans page

Please share your plans in the comments...