Saturday, April 18, 2015

This Retirement Thing Is Great!

  This Retirement Thing Is Great!
Welcome Back!
April 18, 2015
July 2014 Sanibel Island, Florida
     Hadn't written on this blog since June 7, 2014, then a wonderful thing happened:  I adopted another greyhound, and my whole outlook changed drastically.  Miss Wendy, adopted on June 21, 2014, from Goldcoast Greyhound Rescue in Orlando, Florida, changed my retirement completely.

     So as soon as Miss Wendy entered my home, my attitude and actions changed for the better...I got off my chair and started living and making plans.  My friend from Alabama, Charlotte, came for a visit, and we drove to Sanibel Island, walked the gorgeous beach, 4 hours from Orlando, had lunch with old friends there at the Mucky Duck Pub , and immediately I decided to move back to Fort Myers.  Plans were made, apartment searches were done (internet searches), and by September, I was packing to leave Orlando!

     Here it is, 7 months later, and I live in my beautiful second floor apartment, overlooking a lake, and within 5 miles of the Sanibel Island bridge!  The home I left in Orlando has been rented, and I am finally living the retirement life I wrote about.

     All of the credit goes to bringing another dog into my life.  That is what it took to get me out of what others have called the retirement rut.  Thank goodness for Miss Wendy!  

Two Month Absence From Blog--What Happened?

Two Month Absence From Blog--
What Happened?
May 17, 2014

     Can't explain why I have stopped writing.  Check back later.  Retirement has aspects I had not read about.  










Realities of My Retirement--November '13 to June '14

Realities of My Retirement
Not What Research Predicted
June 7, 2014

  • "I enjoy waking up and not having to go to
  • work. So I do it three or four times a day."
  •  - Gene Perret
    

     Let me say that for the past three months I have not written here
 and I don't know why, exactly.
     Several things have happened in retirement:
     1.  Had a lovely stent placed in my artery so my leg wouldn't fall off.
     2.  Visited my family at Christmas, where I was told I was too negative.  Really?  Yep.
     3.  Almost bought a sports car, a condo, a house, a farm, and changed my mind every time.
     4.  Didn't get a new dog or cat...might want to take a trip.
     5.  Didn't take a trip because I didn't want to leave home.
     6.  Attended my granddaughter's graduation and never saw so many photos taken of the same   people in one afternoon.
     7.  Started feeding a cute but hissing stray cat.
     8.  Watched approximately 10,000 youtube.com videos, mostly from Great Britain.
     9.  Joined a gym and go 4 times a week, so my leg won't fall off.
    10. Spent most of the past 7 months sitting at my computer. 

     So, in spite of all of the research I did during 2013, I learned that I'm not one to take my own retirement advice seriously.

     I even stopped writing this blog for 3 months.

     Why is this happening?  I really don't have any explanation. 

     Stay tuned for my next post, as I promise that I will be doing something exciting and unusual by then, fingers crossed. 

     Time for my 11 a.m. nap.  Ha-ha!