Sunday, August 23, 2015

In Praise of Aimlessness



After last weekend’s achievement of getting seven people on time from our house to a wedding three towns away, followed later by orchestrating three days of activities for the grandboys with the precision of a landing at Normandy, I’m learning to appreciate retirement all over again.



It’s just the two of us again, with absolutely no deadlines, no particular place to be, and no projects we can’t ignore.



When I retired, it took me a while to realize that my time truly was my own. If I wanted to stay in my pajamas until the ungodly hour of 10 am, well, gosh darn it, I could. No more papers to grade, no lessons to plan, and no more rationing TV time to one hour.



Things have slowed down again, and I’m appreciating the timelessness of an empty day. Still, I did fit in a walk and vacuumed out my car (my inner Puritan work ethic is hard to quell), but that was followed by an hour on the couch in front of the television.

At three in the afternoon! 



If that’s not hedonism, I don’t know what is.

8 comments:

  1. For sure, pure hedonism. Lovely picture.

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  2. Claiming time as our own is amazing isn't it? And a lesson I seem to need to learn and relearn. I still drive myself hard. Foolishly hard some days.

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  3. The key is that you can say no at any time. Enjoy your day.

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  4. Thank you. Thank you! I am looking forward to fall when I can slow down.

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  5. Yes, retirement is pretty darn wonderful. I can say that after seven years, but I have a schedule to my mornings, just because it makes it possible for me to do whatever I want with the rest of the day, and feel good about it. We're all different. Congratulations on finally being retired. :-)

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  6. Ha! I feel that way in the summer, too. Although it would take a SLOW day to get me to watch daytime TV. :)

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  7. Yes !!! Isn't it wonderful? As hard as I worked all my life, I haven't missed the work force one whit. Ok some of the people I worked with for sure but not the schedule at all. Enjoy.

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