Wednesday, September 28, 2005
THE FIRST WEEK OF RETIREMENT.....JULY 1-7, 1997
I woke up the next morning feeling free. I had the rest of my life to do something with. My mother did beautiful embroidery and I have a pillow I made from one of her pieces…….it says, “This is the first day of the rest of your life.” It’s nothing new but that morning as I looked at it, it spoke volumes. The first thing I was going to do was enjoy the rest of my visit with Gene and Rosalie. They would be with me another two days before going on to other friends in Springfield. George was going to leave later in the morning so I wanted to spend as much time with him as I could. Becky had to go on to work.
We spent the first day driving around to points of interest and doing some shopping at some of the antique places. We came home in time to fix supper and visit with Becky until bedtime. George called to say he arrived home safely. The next day I had to pick up some medications from Fort Leonard Wood so we made the rounds up there. They got to see the hospital Bear was in so many times and we had a nice lunch in the Food Court before coming home. The Fowlers had to leave by 8:00 p.m. to meet their friends so we hugged goodbye. Once in a while we connect when I am in town to visit George…..their daughter and her family live fairly close so at times we are in the area at the same time. It makes it possible to visit and catch up on family news.
The next morning was the first time for me to wake up in an empty house after retiring. I had so many things in mind I wanted to do it was hard to settle on anything. All of the goals I’d stored up for years came to the forefront and I wanted to do them all at once. It was a beautiful day so I washed bedding and hung it on the lines which I love to do when the weather is nice. I aired the house out good and just enjoyed the freedom of doing things without a time frame attached to it. It was a great feeling to think I could do things at my own speed now and not have a timeline to every task. I knew I was going to love being on a fresh page without restrictions.
July 4th seemed more appropriate this year because I was also celebrating my retirement along with the freedom of our country. Becky and I worked in my flower-beds most of the afternoon and watched the Boston Pops Symphony that night. It was a tradition and one I looked forward to. The next day was to be a luncheon of my high school class in Cabool and Becky said she’d go with me. We had a nice time…..mostly local classmates came. It wasn’t the large gathering we normally had but I’m always happy to attend. For a class of 72 we have very few who are deceased even though we are all up into our 70’s now.
The next day was Sunday and Becky and I were impressed with a full-scale Fourth of July program that was brisk and patriotic in our church. That evening , Don Rockenbach called from Grannie’s café out on the highway to ask if we would like to meet him for coffee. He was on his way to a delivery point with a load on his truck and wanted to check in to see who came to the luncheon yesterday. Becky and I went down and picked him up to have coffee here at the house. He had talked to some of our classmates over the past weeks so we shared news back and forth. He stayed a short time and we took him back to his truck where he pulled out and headed east, down the highway. He owned his own truck and loved the open road. He’d been doing it over 50 years…………
The next day was Monday. A full week of retirement already. I was finding out that time really does fly when you’re having fun. I had a friend in for lunch and then wrote letters the rest of the day to those who had called, mailed or visited in honor of my retirement. Becky came at the end of the day and we had supper together. A sweet benediction to end the first week. Life was good. Very good.
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
We spent the first day driving around to points of interest and doing some shopping at some of the antique places. We came home in time to fix supper and visit with Becky until bedtime. George called to say he arrived home safely. The next day I had to pick up some medications from Fort Leonard Wood so we made the rounds up there. They got to see the hospital Bear was in so many times and we had a nice lunch in the Food Court before coming home. The Fowlers had to leave by 8:00 p.m. to meet their friends so we hugged goodbye. Once in a while we connect when I am in town to visit George…..their daughter and her family live fairly close so at times we are in the area at the same time. It makes it possible to visit and catch up on family news.
The next morning was the first time for me to wake up in an empty house after retiring. I had so many things in mind I wanted to do it was hard to settle on anything. All of the goals I’d stored up for years came to the forefront and I wanted to do them all at once. It was a beautiful day so I washed bedding and hung it on the lines which I love to do when the weather is nice. I aired the house out good and just enjoyed the freedom of doing things without a time frame attached to it. It was a great feeling to think I could do things at my own speed now and not have a timeline to every task. I knew I was going to love being on a fresh page without restrictions.
July 4th seemed more appropriate this year because I was also celebrating my retirement along with the freedom of our country. Becky and I worked in my flower-beds most of the afternoon and watched the Boston Pops Symphony that night. It was a tradition and one I looked forward to. The next day was to be a luncheon of my high school class in Cabool and Becky said she’d go with me. We had a nice time…..mostly local classmates came. It wasn’t the large gathering we normally had but I’m always happy to attend. For a class of 72 we have very few who are deceased even though we are all up into our 70’s now.
The next day was Sunday and Becky and I were impressed with a full-scale Fourth of July program that was brisk and patriotic in our church. That evening , Don Rockenbach called from Grannie’s café out on the highway to ask if we would like to meet him for coffee. He was on his way to a delivery point with a load on his truck and wanted to check in to see who came to the luncheon yesterday. Becky and I went down and picked him up to have coffee here at the house. He had talked to some of our classmates over the past weeks so we shared news back and forth. He stayed a short time and we took him back to his truck where he pulled out and headed east, down the highway. He owned his own truck and loved the open road. He’d been doing it over 50 years…………
The next day was Monday. A full week of retirement already. I was finding out that time really does fly when you’re having fun. I had a friend in for lunch and then wrote letters the rest of the day to those who had called, mailed or visited in honor of my retirement. Becky came at the end of the day and we had supper together. A sweet benediction to end the first week. Life was good. Very good.
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
