Working the Retirement Gig

Several times in the last couple of days I have been asked  "How are you enjoying retirement?" or have heard "You are really enjoying this retirement thing, aren't you?"

Answer to first question:  YES!

Response to second comment:  YES!

Reasons?

Here goes:

• Spending time with grandchildren (and their folks, of course). What can be better than hearing a 4-year-old and a 3-year-old squeal with delight when I walk into the house?  Or seeing Landon run up the driveway and throw himself on me?  Or Owen's eyes light up when he sees Papaw?    Yesterday Tessa asked me a couple of times, "Mamaw, will you play with me?"  Cooper asked me last night if I would go downstairs with him to play basketball.  Landon wanted us to stay on Tuesday night and sleep in his room.  So many grandparents have to travel great distances to see their grandchildren and don't have the opportunity too often to do so.  We are so fortunate that we can visit ours at least once a week, usually two or three times.  Four perks of time felxibility:  Landon, Tessa, Cooper, and Owen
• No planning. No teaching.  No grading.  Now I can open the computer and not check Blackboard.  I no longer thing of Saturday mornings as my time to grade online submissions that were due on Friday nights. Is the Rochester bag in the Escape for Tuesday or Thursday morning?  Not anymore!  My time is my own- first time since 1973 when I stepped in my first classroom.  Can you believe that I was so excited to be grading papers during my first year?  I could hardly wait to get home and start marking with the red pen.  That didn't take too long to change!
• Matinee movies midweek.  Yep.  Going to the movies during the week.  Lower prices.  Smaller crowds that are well-behaved (except for the couple that tried to sit on Gary after Hidden Figures had already started).  Pair that with lunch somewhere, then add in a visit with the kiddos---perfect day!
• Time to quilt.  I love to sew.  I like putting fabric together and making something that will be treasured for a long time.  Plus I enjoy going to the quilt shop and getting new ideas and learning new techniques.  This is fun!  I really really like sewing and quilting.
• Time to read.  I have always been a reader.  I remember the first time I could actually read something that wasn't a school reading practice in elementary.  It was the Alliance Review, the comics, and I was lying on the floor in the living room in the Little Brown House on Rt. 62.  I looked at the comics so I could see the pictures and lo and behold!  I could read the words.  I could put together the phrases and sentences.  I could read!  I never looked back.
• Lunches with friends!  Gretchen used to tease me when I started at Ivy Tech that I would be so excited about lunch, especially on Fridays when she, Barb, Phylliss,and I would meet for lunch before the faculty or All Hands meetings.  After 33 years of inhaling lunches either in the teachers' lounge or in my classroom during a 25 minute time period, going out for lunch in a real restaurant was a treat.  This week's calendar included two lunch dates - Wednesday with Tina Davis at One-Eyed Jacks in Winamac, and today with Chris Foerman at Sublettes in Monticello (and after I drove to Burnettsville to the quilt shop!).  The only problem is the time period for lunch usually expands to more than I had originally thought.  Oh well...the perks of retirement!
• Online Bible Study - This is the 3rd OBS I have done since I retired.  I like the Proverbs 31 series, and I really enjoy Lysa TerKeurst's books and her video teaching lessons.  This study I am discussing in two, actually three, Facebook groups.  One was selected by Proverbs 31, has 20 members, and is led by a very nice lady from South Carolina.  The only drawback with that group is there is no option for anyone posting a new idea or discussion point or question other than the leader, and the leader is posting only reminders about the weekly activities.  Group #2 is formed by three of us who 'met' while in Group 9 during the last two studies and we decided to form our own group.  The third group I was invited to join and was organized by Amy and Sarah who clean our house.  How does this relate to retirement?  I have been reading and completing the workbook and posting in two groups in the morning, usually as soon as I get up.  I couldn't do that if I were teaching, especially since I would have a class at Rochester that began at 8:00 a.m. two mornings each week.  Growing in my faith and in my walk with God.  A definite perk to retirement!
• More time with Gary.  We have been doing more things together and have two trips planned before summer.  We couldn't go on the cruise with Karen and Clay, Mike and Angie, and Nick and his friend at the end of March if I were still teaching.  We couldn't go to Charleston and Myrtle Beach in May if I were still teaching.  Definite plus to retirement!
• Ability to care for our parents.  They need(ed) care; we provide(d) care.  That is all.

Am I enjoying retirement?  What is not to enjoy?  I  am so busy, I am having fun, and I don't feel pressure to meet any type of deadlines.

 Working the Retirement Gig--yes I am!