Is There Life After Retirement???

As most of the six people that read this sh-t know, I am now on Long Term Disability or in my mind, Re-F-ing-Tired. Truthfully, and I know that you probably don't believe this, but I'd much rather be working and having something more in my life to do than clean house, cook dinner, do outside work, do the shopping and everything else in the house. Two weeks ago as I was taking the laundry hamper down three flights of stairs to the basement to do ANOTHER load of wash, Deb said to me, "Jim Please! At least let me take care of the laundry and you can do everything else." to which I snickered and thought, "Big deal, I don't have to do laundry, but she's LETTING me do EVERYTHING ELSE." So, I gladly agreed because I really do hate doing laundry. Now, that was two Saturdays ago and that Sunday night guess what I was doing???? Yeah, that's right, laundry. I've gained just a 'little' weight since becoming 'retired' and I only have two pair of jeans that fit from my last 'weight gain' and both were dirty and you know who was too tired to do the laundry that week.

Every morning when Deb gets up to get ready for work, she thinks it's funny to let History into the bedroom to jump in bed with me. He's gotten into this routine of snuggling under my chin and going to sleep. But, before he does that, he has to roll around on my head, sit on my back and purr, roll over on his back for me to rub his stomach and all the little tricks that he knows. It's so bad now that we have to leave a glass of water on the night stand by the bed, because after he jumps into bed and wakes me up, he has to have a drink of water, then puts his head under my chin and falls asleep. Deb thinks it's cute and yes, it was at first, but it's becoming a little ridiculous. Every morning, day, after day, after day.

I have been doing some outside work, but at a slow pace. What should take me a couple of hours, now takes me depending on the task, two days to a week to complete. After one of the trees by my tee boxes fell to the ground during a wind storm, I decided to put in a little flower garden. With the help of Debbie picking out the flowers and bushes, my idea became a reality. It should have taken me a day to complete, but with my back in the condition that it's in, it took me about four days, with a lot of resting in between my 15 -20 minute work sessions. But, it's finished and as I always have said, 'It's good enough for who it's for.'


For Mother's Day, Jennifer and Stephanie gave Deb a nice gift certificate to the Flower Garden in town, and we went out and spent it all. We planted tons of flowers around the house and in pots on the deck area, along with 30 tomato plants next to the shed. Once again, I rested more than I worked. But, with the help of Tiny Drunk Dancer, we finished it up and the yard came together. Wood chips were added to the flower beds and I went back several times to the Flower Garden to purchase more. Next year instead of buying prepared bags, I'll be figuring out how many bags we used and compare that price to the price of having the chips delivered in bulk. Either way, it's a lot of work. But, it does look nice and this year, my tomato plants had better grow. I rotor tilled and mixed manure into the soil, so I'm expecting big things out there compared to last year. Funny thing is, I don't even like tomatoes unless they're in a sauce. I can't even see how people can slice a tomato and put it on bread and eat it.

One thing I have been doing to occupy my time since being retired is, I'm teaching an adult named Ronald how to read. I volunteered at the Adult Education Program in town for a program called, Teach An Adult To Read. I find it so fulfilling and I've been partnered with this amazing man. We now have bonded and he and I sit together three days a week at McDonald's where he works. I must admit he's a fast learning and each week, I bring him new material and he can't wait to get his hands on it. A lot of times though, he's more interested in looking at the pictures, but that will change in time. I know that this retirement project will do both of us a lot of good. I wish you could see how Ronald's eyes light up when he sees me bring a new book or magazine. It would truly warm your heart like it has done mine.