Another Blessing of Retirement

For years the yard work at our house was done in late May or early June. Why?  Because April was full of birthdays and Easter, then May was full of Mother's Day, prom activities, grading research papers, end of year evening activities, and graduation.  Finally after all of that ended, it was time to clean the flower beds, rake the last remnants of leaves, and plant flowers.  Finally the yard was beginning to look presentable for the spring/summer months. And let's face it.  Sometimes much of it just didn't happen because of sewing for 4-H, walking calves in the evenings, and teaching two nights each week for Purdue.

Retirement from West Central and employment at Ivy Tech changed that somewhat.  Now the month of May was fairly open and some of those clean-up duties could be completed on warm spring days.  But then there were interruptions with Gary needing help in the field or with moving equipment from place to place, pre-school VBS and either Landon or Tessa visiting for the week, and Mother's Day plus graduation open houses to attend.  Plus I tried to volunteer at church during May, and it was my month to prepare communion, since I didn't contribute much the rest of the year.  But I did make a respectable effort with clean up and planting flowers. Usually flowers and mulch were  in place (or gone in the case of leaves) by Memorial Day weekend.

Since retirement from Ivy Tech, our days, weeks, and months have been filled with many activities and a few trips.  We keep busy.  We returned from the trip to Birmingham, the cruise to Mexico, and the days in New Orleans on March 28 and immediately spent two days with Cooper followed by three days with Landon, Tessa, and Owen with a couple of  'down days' to catch up on laundry and other things.  The next week was more of the same with time with the kids (not complaining- loved all of it!).  Then Megan's birthday was April 8, a Saturday, and she wanted to go to the Indianapolis Zoo.  All of us (except Matt who had a double header that day) piled into two vehicles, traveled to Indy, explored the zoo, dined at the Cheesecake Factory, and shopped at Babies R Us and Bye Bye Baby.   Lots of fun with everyone that day.

Sunday after church we drove to Wooster and spent the evening cleaning off shelves in the pantry.  More exploded cans. More expired dates.  We quickly filled two cans with trashed food.  Next we checked out the yard and picked up sticks for the compost pile and tore apart a decaying wooden barrel to add to the trash for Monday morning.   Monday morning was spent running errands (Kohls, Walmart, Rubbermaid store) then we visited Mom for 3.5 hours.  Tuesday morning we delivered some Depends to Mom's room (from her stash in the bedroom), visited with her for a short time, then left to make the trip home.  It was a quick trip there, but it accomplished what was needed - a check on Mom and more clean out of the fruit cellar.

Today was the final "blessing of retirement."  All of those aforementioned activities couldn't have happened had I still been teaching.  Neither would today's outdoor experiences.  Gary mowed, and I don't think he has ever made the first rounds this early.  I started by raking out the excess leaves in the front flower beds.  Not too much to do, just a little clean up work.   Then I tackled the front of the house.  Now this was a challenge.  Rarely am I able to actually remove leaves along the foundation because the bushes are already leafed out and the hostas are up too high.  Today, however, the rake was busy and the clippers were fast to remove little spurts of growth that were already attaching themselves to the stone. Many sticks from the yard made their way into the barrel also.

The next area was in the lilac bushes.  I started with the one at the end of the sidewalk by the hot tub and trimmed out so many new spurts of growth that I was able to clean the leaves out rather quickly.  The big lilac bushes by the drive were another story.  Most of my efforts in the past have had less than stellar results with only the leaves around the edges of that area making it to the burn pile.  Today, however, everything was moved.  Old mower blades, empty cans, used flower pots - all pitched.  More clipping of growth that wasn't needed and more raking.  The flower bed under the sunroom windows?  Cleaned.  Along the bed behind the garage?  Cleaned along the edge but not within. I was running out of steam.  The bed by the outhouse.  Much of the green growth of cover weeds is gone along with the spiny stuff left over from the fall flowers.

Now I am sore.  Tired. Achy.  My knees hurt.  My feet hurt.  My arms ache.  But when I look outside, I feel great!

Only because I retired was I able to spend so much time outside today, cleaning up and getting ready for Easter.  Only because Gary isn't farming this spring was he able to help me and to mow.

Both of us worked hard for a long time.  Both of us commented the other day that we are losing track of which day it is and that we (really just I) don't dread Mondays. I don't think on Sundays about the coming week and whether I am prepared or not, and most importantly, feel like I have lost my chance to do what I want to do, just because I have to teach (which meant grading in the evenings and on weekends).   We have more time with the littles.  We have more time to visit with Megan and Hilary and families.  We have more time to DO what we want to do.  And we are happy.

Life is good.  We are blessed!