Anticipating the Future!
I see that I have been AWOL for nearly two months! In the meantime we had the biggest winter blizzard we had all year, spring has arrived in full bloom and we now have the air conditioner turned on and running. It's always been said that if you don't like the weather in Nebraska, wait 5 minutes! And this has certainly been true this year.
My focus this year is on transition. Life is a constant transition but it's usually the kind of transition that takes place gradually and in the background of consciousness. This year, with my pending retirement, there is active and targeted transition going on. Plans are being talked about, to-do lists are being made, and the things I've done for 26 years are being wrapped up and prepared to hand over to someone else. I keep thinking I should be sad and sentimental and nostalgic, but honestly, I am looking toward the future with anticipation and excitement.
I'm sure you are asking yourself what can I do that would be this exciting. And I was also asking myself this for a few months. And I will admit that there is some apprehension as I move into the future, but it is mostly based on the unknown consequences of the finances. As far as having something to do to keep me busy and interested in life, no qualms whatsoever!
So, in spite of the fact that I was advised to throw away my to-do list because I would never do anything on it anyway, here is my to-do list.
The first thing I intend to do is learn to sleep in just a bit later. I have been an early riser since the days of milking cows. I can go to bed dead tired and promise myself that I will sleep in until at least 7:00, but come 5:00 or so, my eyes pop open and I am ready to get up and at least veg on the couch for a couple hours. I may still be tired but I'm awake.
We have talked for years about going south in the winter, or maybe I should say that Mike has talked about it, I've had a job for the past 5 or 6 years since he's retired so I never join in the planning. After the long and arduous winter that we just experienced, I am now in on the planning. So, after the keys are handed over to someone else and my retirement funds are safely invested and my social security is on track to be tapped into, we are likely going to head to Arizona for a month or two. It is incredibly expensive to winter in Arizona, but we have discovered the concept of "boondocking". I won't go into great detail here, but feel free to look it up. It is basically free camping on public lands. So we will get the benefit of the warmer and drier winters, a change of scenery, and not have to break the bank doing it. And we will enjoy seeing the sights of Arizona!
People who go south for the winter assure us we will know when it is time to return...when it gets too hot down south to enjoy the weather there. So we will return to Nebraska....and then what? I have closets to clean and cupboards to unload. The entire interior of the house needs to be repainted. One room remains to be remodeled, and I have about a dozen boxes of pictures that need to be sorted and scanned for safe keeping. We have plans for constructing some raised garden beds next summer so that we can grow a big garden again without having to work down on the ground, since that seems to be nearly out of the question these days. and the canning will follow the success of our garden endeavors. We are even now planting fruit trees and bushes so that we can make jams and jellies. Mike keeps busier at the shop than he can keep up with by himself and I am becoming more proficient at woodworking, so there will be that.
And then there is the matter of family that is flung far and wide and is always an enticement to travel to see. Kids' sporting activities, school programs, rodeos, graduations and eventually weddings and new babies to cuddle. And Mike's continued passion with Fast Draw will keep us on the road through the summer months.
So the question is not, "What am I going to do with myself in retirement?", but more likely, "Will I have the time, energy and money to do all I want to do?" People with nothing to do except watch TV and sleep tend to die young. If the inverse of that is true, I will life forever!
So here's to a bright future!
My focus this year is on transition. Life is a constant transition but it's usually the kind of transition that takes place gradually and in the background of consciousness. This year, with my pending retirement, there is active and targeted transition going on. Plans are being talked about, to-do lists are being made, and the things I've done for 26 years are being wrapped up and prepared to hand over to someone else. I keep thinking I should be sad and sentimental and nostalgic, but honestly, I am looking toward the future with anticipation and excitement.
I'm sure you are asking yourself what can I do that would be this exciting. And I was also asking myself this for a few months. And I will admit that there is some apprehension as I move into the future, but it is mostly based on the unknown consequences of the finances. As far as having something to do to keep me busy and interested in life, no qualms whatsoever!
So, in spite of the fact that I was advised to throw away my to-do list because I would never do anything on it anyway, here is my to-do list.
The first thing I intend to do is learn to sleep in just a bit later. I have been an early riser since the days of milking cows. I can go to bed dead tired and promise myself that I will sleep in until at least 7:00, but come 5:00 or so, my eyes pop open and I am ready to get up and at least veg on the couch for a couple hours. I may still be tired but I'm awake.
We have talked for years about going south in the winter, or maybe I should say that Mike has talked about it, I've had a job for the past 5 or 6 years since he's retired so I never join in the planning. After the long and arduous winter that we just experienced, I am now in on the planning. So, after the keys are handed over to someone else and my retirement funds are safely invested and my social security is on track to be tapped into, we are likely going to head to Arizona for a month or two. It is incredibly expensive to winter in Arizona, but we have discovered the concept of "boondocking". I won't go into great detail here, but feel free to look it up. It is basically free camping on public lands. So we will get the benefit of the warmer and drier winters, a change of scenery, and not have to break the bank doing it. And we will enjoy seeing the sights of Arizona!
People who go south for the winter assure us we will know when it is time to return...when it gets too hot down south to enjoy the weather there. So we will return to Nebraska....and then what? I have closets to clean and cupboards to unload. The entire interior of the house needs to be repainted. One room remains to be remodeled, and I have about a dozen boxes of pictures that need to be sorted and scanned for safe keeping. We have plans for constructing some raised garden beds next summer so that we can grow a big garden again without having to work down on the ground, since that seems to be nearly out of the question these days. and the canning will follow the success of our garden endeavors. We are even now planting fruit trees and bushes so that we can make jams and jellies. Mike keeps busier at the shop than he can keep up with by himself and I am becoming more proficient at woodworking, so there will be that.
And then there is the matter of family that is flung far and wide and is always an enticement to travel to see. Kids' sporting activities, school programs, rodeos, graduations and eventually weddings and new babies to cuddle. And Mike's continued passion with Fast Draw will keep us on the road through the summer months.
So the question is not, "What am I going to do with myself in retirement?", but more likely, "Will I have the time, energy and money to do all I want to do?" People with nothing to do except watch TV and sleep tend to die young. If the inverse of that is true, I will life forever!
So here's to a bright future!
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