Retirement Times

The biggest problem with retirement is having no schedule! It is so easy to let a day go by without accomplishing anything! There are no deadlines or expectations to urge us on. I’ve decided that I need external motivation.
So far since retiring we have done some traveling: to Idaho, to Hawaii, to Japan, to Oregon, to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. Having a trip looming gives some shape to our lives. So what to do?
My solutions so far range from making lists(a favorite activity) of projects to be done with a timeline for accomplishing them; to suggesting daily and weekly schedules; to exploring volunteer opportunities.
I was able to help at a Health Fair. It was a hoot! I have missed being with people. I’m a sociable person and love having people to talk and listen to (I prefer finding good listeners since I am a talker!) We also worked the library book sale. That was OK. We will do more volunteering at the library since the budget is being cut and there will be a greater need. Just so I can be near people. Shelving books doesn’t do it for me. We also do some writing and editing for the church. It’s fun, but there’s not much time commitment.
For now we are pretty well set since we bought paint for the downstairs and we have a goal of having it all done by the time Katie comes home for Christmas.
Also on our radar are projects to simplify our living space. I am looking for homes for books. (Everything from Chemistry texts to diet books, to thrillers, to romances. So far we know the library will take some and the senior center will take the RD Condensed Books. That will help declutter our office and my quiet room.
And I need to work on closets. One of the terrible problems with having weight that fluctuates is having at least two sizes of clothing. So I am working on my weight and trying not to buy anymore clothing in a larger size.
So you see, life is endlessly interesting to the retired.
Gotta go, it’s lunch time! Some things don’t need scheduling, they just happen!!

We are in the final stages of preparing for our most outrageous trip ever!! We are going to Japan to visit Katie and tour Honshu with her. We are doing it the mature adult way–we paid to have our itinerary mapped out for us! Our trip is well planned and will let us tour in some outstanding places. We will tour temples and historical sites and spend a day in Nikko where Torenaga held court.
We will travel first class on the Shinkansen, bullet trains. This will be our downtime for listening to soothing music, reading or snoozing between destinations.
We are looking forward (with a little trepidation, on my part) to staying at the ryokan on Miyajima for two nights. It will give us a feeling for the traditional hospitality of the Japanese. I’m game to try anything once.
It is cheating a little to hae Katie with us since she has grown more accustomed to the culture and language in her year living there. She will be invaluable to us. Perhaps she will save us from acting like “barbarians”. Hope so.
We are trying to pack light and travel smart, but that is so hard to do since we will be away from home for a whole month! It’s a learning process. If we don’t get it right this time, maybe we will next time we travel abroad!
Our next post will be after our trip. I expect some surprises and reactions we haven’t anticipated, both good and bad.
Being away from home for a whole month is stretching it for us too. We have always had to return to work within two weeks. Like I said, this is what retirement is all about! Sayonara!!

Today we woke to birdsong and the soft air of Hawaii. We are taking a week to relax and plan. We want to sketch out some ideas for what this retirement is going to look like. We have been so busy that we haven’t had a chance to begin what is supposed to be a calmer existence.
Today is open. We will orient ourselves since Kona has changed much since we have been here last. We will walk as much as my legs will allow–and they are doing famously. And we will map out our activities for the next week.
When we arrived in Kona last night, we were surprised with a lei greeting. (They don’t kiss you on both cheeks like it shows on TV, just the lei!) It was special. I like to think it is symbolic of how this time will be. Stay posted!

IT has been nearly a month since I officially stopped working. It has not been an easy month. We experienced one of those life experiences which all the books about our life stage tell us to expect–my father died. Les lost his parents many years ago. He tells me that my father was his Dad longer than his own biological father. Les’ father died when Les was 33yrs old. Since Les is now 67, my Dad was his Dad for the nearly 43 yrs that we have been married. So our loss was mutual.
There is something very weird about losing a parent. Suddenly you become the terminal generation. It gives new urgency to topics like leaving a legacy and making an impact! This affects how I feel about my retirement.
I want more than ever to make a difference in my world and in the lives of those I love and those I come into contact with from here on out. I want to live in such a way as to not be an embarrassment to Jesus!
My appproach to my retired life since I returned from Idaho has been to get things in order. I have been reading “Sink Reflections” and getting some great ideas for daily routines and for sorting out and creating order. I want to simplify our lives by getting rid of excess in our belongings and working smart at keeping up with cleaning and maintenance. Today the job is ironing and putting away those many shirts hanging on the rack downstairs. My approach has been to bring the ironing board upstairs and work at the task while watching American Idol. It seems to be working! My mother always tried to make work fun. This is my tribute to Mom. She is an ironer and will be so proud.
Because we haven’t been able to really kick off our retirement as we had planned, we scheduled a trip to Hawaii later this month. It will give us some fun in the sun time and let us do some more planning.
I’m looking forward to this transition. I tend to jump into things with both feet, while Les holds back. I’m hoping we can find some activities we enjoy doing together so that we can make a joint contribution to our community. Stay tuned.

It’s Monday and normally I would be working.  I enjoyed a slow morning, cleaned my house, caught up on my Bible reading, did laundry.  Just regular stuff.  Since Les was gone for a few hours I hung out on Facebook for awhile, knit a few more rows on my socks and had lunch.

I’ve decided that my knitting is like my butterfly stroke(swimming) according to my grandson Ethan:  it needs work!  I’m just not making nice ribbing like Sarah showed me.  I may have to go hang out at the knitting shop and let the experts show me what I am doing wrong.  Or I could take Sarah lunch at work and let her coach me while she eats.  Or I can keep going and have this bad example to look back on.

My party was really heart warming last Friday.  More people came than I expected.  Before I left there I had two offers of jobs and a great offer of a vacation in Panama.  The jobs were to train trainers for a program all over the state.  It would be in mid April.  Or to sign up for registry so that I could sub when someone needs a day off.  The vacation offer was from Fatima who headed the WIC breastfeeding initiative for the state of Alaska.  I worked under her for a few years.  She is moving back to Panama and urged us to come and visit.  I think that sounds like a lovely place to go next winter.

On the way home from the party I got a call from a woman asking me if I would do a seminar for her church ladies.  I called her back the next day and we decided I would do a retreat in the Fall for them.

All these offers make me think that retirement may not be boring!

Tonight I am going to start packing to go to Idaho to say good bye to my Daddy.  When I talked to Mother yesterday she sounded very brave, but like she was having to work hard to breathe.  Bless her heart!  This is so hard on her.  She never imagined life without Daddy.  We will all need to help her make her transition.

Saturday we ordered new living room furniture.  It is fairly light colored, but will blend nicely with the soft green walls.  We will have to lay down ground rules about food and fluids in the livingroom.  It will be a challenge.  New furniture is one of the ways I cope with change.  When Katie left for college, we bought our bedroom suite.  It was a statement about time for us.  This is a further statement about our enjoying our home together.  Maybe we will entertain more now that we aren’t harried by work.

This transition will take time.  It’s like the famous line in that movie about “Bob”, “Baby steps, baby steps!”

Yesterday was my last day at work!  It was sort of bittersweet.  Several coworkers gave me hugs and congratulations and some had tears in their eyes.  I tried really hard not to cry myself–even when three of my best buds walked me out to the car!  I told them that “exit hugs” would be put off until today.  My party is at 3PM.  I will wear waterproof mascara!

If I am going to be retired, I think I need to make a “Bucket List” or do “Twenty Wishes” like in Debbie McCombers’ book.  So here goes.

1.  I want to make special memories with my husband.  These could just be at home learning to communicate on a deeper level.  (It’s about time–almost 43yrs in to this marriage!)

2.  I want to go to Japan to see where Katie lives and to visit some of the sites Les knows from reading.

3.  I want to take a trip up the East Coast during leaf color change season.  I’d like to go all the way up to PEI.

4.  I’d love to explore the British Isles.

5.  I want to work on fitness so I can enjoy walking all over these places and more.

6.  I’d like to learn to paint with water colors.

7.  I’d like to learn to knit well.

8.  I’d like to write a few articles for publication.

9.  I’d like to simplify and organize my environment so that it will be beautiful and restful.

10.  I’d like to become a master gardener.

11.  I’d like to take a river cruise in Europe.

12.  I’d like to become a good swimmer so that I could swim laps without getting breathless.

13.  I’d like to become a water aerobics instructor.

15.  I’d like to get really good at using this computer for pictures, presentations(if I ever need to do one again!), etc.

16.  I’d like to catch a fish, but I don’t have to learn to clean it!

17.  I’d like to cook light healthy meals.

18.  I’d like to explore trading homes for vacations with people from interesting places.

19.  I’d like to have tea at the Empress Hotel in Victoria.

20.  I’d like to have special moments and make lasting memories with all my kids and grands.

That’s enough for now.  It occurred to me yesterday that I have either been in school working or raising kids since I was 19 years old.  I think it will be very interesting to have the time to explore what I may have missed out on for all these years.

A friend told us last week that “retirement has it’s ups and downs.  You get up when you want to and go down when you want to”!  We’ll see how that works out.

Time to go to the gym and start working on the fitness thing!

It’s been months since we have checked in here.  Mostly because we haven’t gotten used to the process.  But it has been busy too.

Christmas was wonderful with all our children and grandchildren here.  The downside was the below zero weather, but the upside was being together and talking and playing games and enjoying each other’s company.  Everyone loved hearing about Katie’s grand adventure in Japan and we all love to see how the children have grown.

Once the holidays passed I was faced with the task of going back to work.  Work is like it always was: delightful because of the babies, but frustrating because of the lack of time to help everyone on a busy day. My plan has always been to retire from working this year.  Now that date is staring me in the face because of two things.  I signed up for Medicare because I had to within 3 months prior to my 65th birthday.  (Yikes!  It’s almost here!)  Then my Daddy’s health deteriorated drastically and it looked like he was slipping away two weeks ago.  My oldest sister asked me to put in my two weeks notice so that I could be available to help Mother in case Daddy died, or,if he rallied, help him if he needed my help.  I gave my supervisor my letter.  Daddy rallied and the other sisters said they could carry on for a few weeks.  Now I am finishing up my planned appointments with the doctors and dentist before I go on Medicare.  I can’t earn more than $14,000 this year due to getting Social Security(which I could postpone, but chose not to) since I am not at full retirement age until age 66.  It’s all very complicated.

My current plan is to work through the week of Valentine’s Day then retire.  It is scary.  The US economy is in such dire straits that we don’t feel as well off as we hoped to be.  Retirement means never getting raises or vacation pay.  That’s hard to be OK with.

Not working means flexibility to go help the folks out if needed.  It also means not having to have permission and coverage in order to take a vacation like the one we plan to Japan this year.  It also means we could take advantage of last minute travel bargains if we wanted to.

As Christians we want to trust God for our future and not be always looking at our shrinking paychecks.  We also want to be good stewards and keep our expenses down.  

So we are in a process of making life changing decisions.  It is scary, but exciting.  We worked all our lives for this.  We are asking everyone we know who trusts in God to direct His children to mention these two kids, Les and Julia and ask Him to help show the way.

Life is good.  My mobility is good.  Les is generally in good spirits.  We’ll be fine.

Hello again from crisp and cool Alaska.  Because of cloud cover the temperatures have moderated from single digits to double!!  We are happy for small gains.  One of my recent discoveries about my new knees is that they conduct  cold very well.  The result is a nasty little ache down the tibia!  Not something I had reckoned with.  Seems like the older you get, the more of those unreckoned things you run into.

We are continuing our renovations of our home.  Dad is working on getting the new door painted and ready to install this weekend with the generous help of son-in-law Denis.  Apparently Sam will be coming along too so that makes it all the more fun.  The new door will not just be better looking, it will also provide more insulation against the cold and that’s always a plus in these parts.

The new countertops will be in before Thanksgiving.  The floor is still a work in progress.  It will mean major upheaval in the kitchen since all appliances will have to be moved.  We will not be cooking for a few days.  But the end result should be a better looking and longer lasting floor.  And hopefully, when it is time to sell our home, this will make for capital gains!!

This election just keeps getting weirder.  Our longest sitting senator–the nation’s longest sitting senator–has been found guilty of fraud.  Most of us are not so ingenuous that we believe our elected officials are totally honest all the time, but it still gave us a jolt.  We were thinking that because of the many irregularities in this trial, that there might be a mistrial, or some Hail Mary to save good old Ted.  But it was not to be.  So now what!  Do we vote for this man who is our party’s standard bearer, or do we go with the opponent who is not to our liking at all.  We will probably stay the course since there is a chance of a run off election if our senator has to go to jail.  THis is not a problem we like dealing with.  Our Governor, who is a remarkable young woman in spite of the smear campaigns to discredit her, wants the senator to “do the right thing and step down”.  Decisions!

I stopped by work yesterday after physical therapy just to see the gals and to say “Hi”.  It’s funny how disconnected a person can get in 6 short weeks.  My plan is to go back for a few weeks after the first of the year and then to put in my notice and retire.  I think it will be hard for Dad to have me back at work.  We’ve worked out a harmonious relationship here.  Of course, he is still doing the lion’s share of the work!  We like not having the pressure of work when we get up.  It’s nice if you have a bad night to realize that it won’t hurt anyone else.  There’s always the afternoon nap.  Dad has it perfected.  I don’t!  I just read more and rest more.  It is probably a good way to plan for retirement.  This is like a practice run.  If we find we need more space, I can still work my 20hrs a week and that could be a bonus–aside from the money.  Working involves more than putting in time.  It is a web of relationships and responsibilities that require energy and emotional investment.  I’m glad for the reprieve for now.  I don’t want to make heavy decisions today.

The only down-side I see to retirement is that one could be without a sense of purpose.  I think that could be remedied with carefully chosen volunteer work.  I could even intiate social reform–like organize citizens against sticky labels on fruit and vegetables!  Something I think about almost every day!!!

Hope this finds you all well and looking beyond these troubled times.  There’s always something out there to make you smile.  I mean Cloris Leachman is nearly 20 years my senior and she can still do a pretty mean Latin dance!!  There’s life in these old bones yet!!

Mama Julia

Hey!  Did you believe we would ever start blogging?  It just so happens that I have too much time on my hands at the moment while I heal from my bilateral knee replacement surgery.

Today was a PT day so I’ve done little else.  It was so exciting to be able to actually pedal the bicycle all the way aroung!  I am getting so good at seeing small improvements and celebrating them.  Maybe this is a sign of aging.  When we were young we were so eager to see huge strides–we were into setting records.  It is humbling to be in the situation that I find myself in where I am just happy to set one foot in front of the other!  It’s the stuff patience is made of.

As I lie around and look at the same four walls and read the same pages and plan my day around such things as shower time and mealtimes, it is very tempting to start indulging in introspection and other analyical thinking.  Fortunatelyl, I still have enough pain pills in me to keep me from going too deeply at the moment.

It’s weird watching TV and hearing all the gloom and doom of the economy and all the lies and exaggerations of the political season.  It’s hard to know what to do with our future.  Alaska is probably the financially healthiest state in the Union.  We aren’t going to pull up stakes in a hurry.  We will wait and see how things settle out when the dust clears.

So for now I am trying to think if I want to eat supper–i’m alone tonight so it is less attractive.  I could read something deep and wonderful or go for some fluff.  I could trim my toe nails or start knitting something fun.  obviously, I don’t have much to share.  I just wanted to signal that we are still out here–alive and well, even though I am somewhat altered.  Les is becoming a very good homemaker.  I really hate to get back on my feet too soon.  I’m hoping that in a month or two I will be up and about enough to start sorting and organizing this house.  I think this is the path most retirees take–simplify, simplify, simplify!  I’m not even officially retired and won’t be until sometime after the first of the year.  Maybe I should keep a hand in just in case the economic picture doesn’t improve.  Now that doesn’t sound like a faith position does it?

Seth, am I doing this right–other than having actual substance to my words?  Anyone else out there, I’d like to hear from you too.

Mama Julia