One Day and Counting November 5, 2012

     One Day and Counting                         November 5, 2012

     As I drove home from work, soon after merging into the three lanes of traffic speeding along at 50 miles per hour, a phrase popped into my thoughts:  Every Day Will Be A Holiday.
It made me smile.  It made me sort of feel cozy and comfortable.

     Tomorrow is the big 66th birthday, the one where I qualify for Social Security legally.  I wonder how I will feel when I wake up as an official SS recipient.   Happy Birthday to me.

     Last week, at the doctor's office, I spied the one magazine that wasn't about fashion, finance, Oprah, men's health, or medicine, so I put it in my purse and took it home to read.  Just like that.  It is titled, "50 plus FYI, Central Florida's 50+ Lifestyle Guide." 

     First impressions are the most important, so I will share what impressed me.  The central article was about a mother-daughter team who had spent their lives bouncing from community service job to community service job.  It went on and on and on.  The impression I got was that these ladies didn't actually NEED a paycheck.  Again, my prejudice is showing.

     Second impressions are also important.  I read a great article about voting and about why it is important to be well-versed in the political issues before voting.  They gave their brief descriptions of the upcoming amendments before the people.  Good writing.  League of Women Voters, you can always count on this group of highly educated and informed voters.

     Third impressions were ones I wanted to avoid:  ads for hearing aids, nursing homes, Parkinson's Disease research,  and retirement living communities (this one showing a woman who just came down a waterslide and blowing me a kiss).

     There were a few very very tired jokes and a very senior man sitting on his motorcycle.  There was a ridiculous one page self-promoting article by a singer, written in the form of a letter and signed Mother Jones.  Very off-putting, as the English like to say.

     There were two very interesting lists:  one for volunteering opportunities and one for all of the Senior Centers in the central Florida outlying areas.  Very helpful.  But the best list was one called, "Hotlines and Helplines."  I'm going to copy that one and post it on the fridge.

      The best articles were two about gardening, something I am fond of, even if I mostly look at my garden instead of working in it.  And down one side of one page there were finally some activities that I might participate in:  Day Trip to Mt. Dora with a group on November 17 which included a show, lunch, theater ticket and driver tip.  

      So I would have to add item number 3 to my list as that bus trip to Mt. Dora next weekend.

      My plant seems happy, my bathroom shelves look great with their new folded towels, creams and lotions, and my hair curling iron is happy to have a permanent home. 



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Two Days and Counting        November 4, 2012

      As my friend and I traveled  to buy a plant for my newly constructed bathroom storage shelf unit, I began to realize how much time I will have on my hands a year from now.  When I returned home and repotted the plant in its mint green ceramic pot and saucer, I realized that this time next year I had better have similar activities to occupy my days.

      I'm an automatic early riser, 5:15 a.m., so that gives me way too much time to sit at the computer, morning and evening, before and after work.  How will I possibly drag myself away from the keyboard to mingle with other retirees, wandering Orlando like zombies, all looking for busy work to fill their waking hours?  I see gangs of them hanging out at a fast food restaurant daily.  How much time does it take to drink coffee and eat hash browns?  Not much. 

     I do the same time-wasting when I have dinners with my friends at local restaurants, where we can stretch fried rice and noodle soup into two-hour discussions.  As I see it now, the only difference is I am a working person, and the morning coffee groups are all done with lifelong careers.  Prejudiced?  I believe I just might be.  That surprises me.

     This drove me to google "Senior Retirement Activities" on the internet, naturally.  Know what I found?  Not much.  The most intriguing activity on a list was treasure hunting.  Wow, that is absolutely something I have always wanted to do with a metal detector, for many years.  That explains why you see old codgers roaming beaches with those machines, staring at the sand instead of the beautiful water and sea birds.  They have been doing this way before google gave us this site.

     My small income will take a big hit if I have to go purchase expensive devices to find a few civil war bullets on the beach once a week.  Or worse yet, I will also have to simply move to the beach. 

      When I bought this house, I dug in the backyard, thinking I would plant beautiful flowers.  What I found were two gigantic railroad rails, nine or ten feet long, put there by the lifelong owner, probably as a flower bed border 40 years ago.  But they were eventually buried 6 inches below the ground! 

      Thank you , because I listed these ancient railroad rails for free and they were snapped up very quickly.  So I did like finding "treasure," but I would prefer diamonds, precious stones, and lost rings.  Oh, and bags of money, of course.

      The other activity suggested by the site was to hook up with senior dating services.  That would be the last activity on any list I ever made.  I know there are some very fine people who need to get out of their homes like I will, but I'd rather hang out with people who just want to hang out together.  Oh.  That must be what they do at the fast food place every morning. 

     For now, I will begin a kinder and gentler list, maybe adding three or four activities I discover each day.  Within a year, I should be able to find at least ten things that will hold my interest at least for an hour or two.  I'll report on the most interesting, but not dangerous, activities that make the list.  Hey, wait a minute!  Didn't I used to be a really good bowler?  Add that to my list as number 2.

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Three Days and Counting     November 3, 2012

     When I awoke today, I had a feeling of power and confidence.  Where did that come from?  I had a breakfast meeting with a friend.  Afterwards I was drawn mysteriously toward a WalMart.  Let me say that I had not been inside a Walmart in about 7 years, so this was unusual.

     I strolled the aisles, feeling a bit giddy and lightheaded; I believe I was actually practicing for the time when I would have no obligation to be anywhere at any time.  So I took advantage of the momentary emotion:  I bought stuff.

     The stuff I bought was just a few household items, but ones that I had put off buying for years.  The primary item was one of those tall shelving units to go over the toilet to hold towels, decorative items, and the usual necessary items for the bath. 

     I rushed home and dragged my neighbor into semi-consciousness to help me assemble the unit, and after about an hour and cups of tea with cookies, we had completed the job.  My bathroom unit looks and fits perfectly.  Does the anticipation of retirement cause unfinished tasks to be priorities?

     It almost felt as though I had only a few days to get my life in order, so to speak.

    So, that is one of my first observations of impending retirement: happy anticipation.

    Wonder what emotions will emerge on day 2 and counting?
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Four Days and Counting November 2, 2012

Four Days and Counting

      In only 4 days, I will reach my official, government-sanctioned, long awaited 66th birthday.  It falls on Tuesday, Election Day, so I will celebrate by going to vote for one of two candidates, neither of whom I want to elect with my vote.  For posterity's sake I will identify our candidates:  Barack Obama and Mitt Romney (who named these people?)

     For about 59 years, I pretented that I would marry a prince, win the lottery, discover gold in my backyard while planting flowers, or inherit several million dollars from an anonymous relative.  As unbelievable as it sounds, none of these events occurred.  It was on that 59th birthday that I becan to actually plan for my retirement.

     To shorten this first blog, I will say that I am now about to be one of the millions who will receive the beneficent gift of a monthly pay check from the government:  a Social Security check. 

     What makes me just a bit different from others is that I am still rising each morning and going to my teaching job, something I have been doing for almost 40 years.

      The anticipation of the official first check has put me in a state of fear and frenzy.  Fear?  Just fear that there will be so many deductions that my check will be just enough to take a friend to Panera Bread Restaurant for lunch.  Frenzy?  Just frenzied that I am receiving money that I worked so hard to deserve. 

      My neighbor has been retired for years, but I don't see her running off to a different cruise every week, spending time at a spa, or taking other fabulous vacations.  Apparently "retired" doesn't mean relaxed in any way whatsoever.

     I have another friend who retired from work and who will also receive that golden SS ticket now.  The day after she retired this week, one of her very close relatives has some kind of horrible medical event.  That means she will now be rushing somewhere out of state to give the relative all of her free time and help.  Retired?  No, now she has another job to do.

     Advice given to me over the years is to not do anything for the first few months after retirement, to give myself time to decompress, live in my pjs all day, and try to get over the almost 40 years of emotional ups and downs involved in working.

     Previously, my dream was to move to a tiny cottage in rural England and live like Miss Marple and be the darling of the village, where everyone gathered to drink tea and solve mysteries.  Reality set in when I researched the weather in rural England.  Nine months of freezing, dismal, rainy, and gloomy weather cannot be a replacement for this sunny Florida resident.  I have now resolved myself to paying a little visit there during summer each year...if it's sunny of course.

     Another dream was to work a little job at a famous theme park, which is about 20 miles from my present home.  However, it appears that they want their employees to show up at work every day, just like before retirement.  That dream will have to be researched a bit more.

     For now, I am content to collect my teacher's paycheck and anticipate that magical Social Security check that will soon appear in my mailbox, no matter what the amount.

     Here's hoping that our new president doesn't eliminate my dream retirement in any way.  Let's keep that little check coming to my home for many years to come. 

     For the time being, Pinterest has grabbed my attention, so I am including the link to all of my boards.  Enjoy learning something about what I like, what I wish for, and what I stand for in my real life.

     Happy Birthday to me in 4 days, and Happy Election Day.  Now don't forget to vote!

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