I'm not sure I consider myself officially "retired" yet. I would have had the summer off anyway, so these lazy hazy crazy days of summer would have been pretty much the same.
Except mentally.
I was telling Hubby today how in the past, even though I was off during the summer, I felt this sense of urgency to get tasks done (because one can only clean out the closets, dust the ceiling fans, go through clothes to give to goodwill, match CDs up with their cases in the summer time). If I took a day just to relax and do whatever I wanted to, I felt kind of guilty. I knew those days were limited, and for every one of THOSE I took, I was stealing a day in which I could actually get something accomplished.
I think it's those years of being task-oriented. Having deadlines. Maybe I'm better with deadlines; I don't know.
I do find myself in a bit of a time crunch of sorts, taking mother-in-law to multiple doctor's appointments and trying to schedule HER surgery around two of OUR trips because her own daughter is so unreliable. I also need to be out of town in South Carolina at least twice for a task that I will expound upon later when I can document it with photos and am not afraid I will jinx things. How's that for a teaser?
Hubby and I planned a cruise at the last minute, which is not typically how we do things. We plan for at least a year in advance and pay for the cruise a little each month in advance so the total cost isn't such a shock when we get back from the trip. It sounds corny, but it works for us. I had this vision of retirement in which we could plan something at the last minute and it wouldn't matter at all when we did it, because we would have no work schedules to worry about.
I forgot about football season. And bicycle rides. (And darn it, when I scheduled the cruise I forgot about one of my favorite rides, the Wilson 100, and we won't be back in time. Oh well.) There will also be a couple of golf trips we need to work around, and as soon as football season ends it will be time for gymnastics, and of course we have to work around those weekends as well.
It's sort of like working, only our schedules have to match up with stuff that's fun.
So far I'm really liking retirement.
In our future plans: an RV trip to see the Grand Canyon and as much of the western part of the country as Hubby will allow before he insists we head back home; a Mediterranean cruise - Hubby has always wanted to visit Rome, and I didn't get that far south when Sweet Girl and I went to Italy; a train trip to New Orleans (which I may schedule to coincide with an out-of-town gymnastics meet - surely he can stand ONE meet in the whole season?); an Alaskan cruise; visiting Hawai'i, preferably by cruise.
It's a good thing I retired at an early age. Otherwise I might not live long enough to get all these tasks completed.
2 comments:
I find that I am as busy in retirement as I was when I was working, but all the stuff I'm doing is what I want to do, nobody else. Seems like you're moving in that direction (MIL notwithstanding). :-)
Mum retired last August, and she said she still has grasped the idea that she is retired. Like DJan, Mum is just as busy as ever. In fact, she's busier. The difference is she is doing the things she likes with the people she likes/loves.
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