Some New Activities

 This past fall our life changed in a nice way, my husband retired. Our new life together is relaxing, slow paced, and enjoyable. I have more free time as all the grandchildren go to school full time with the exception of one who stays home with his mom and another who comes to hang out with us each Friday. I still work two days a week but now have two days a week to myself. Some of our grandsons are picked up and dropped off by the school bus at our house, but for the most part Monday and Wednesday we have time to ourselves. 

I felt a need to connect with others, and have an activity or two away from the house. I like to quilt and my mom belongs to a quilt guild so I looked to see if there was one close to me. I was pleased to find one in Auburn, Indiana, a twenty minute drive away from home. The guild meets on the second Wednesday of each month, I have attended since October and paid my dues, $20, and am a member. I enjoy the guild, it is a small group of older ladies who enjoy quilting, we are assigned a block of the month project which is enjoyable and can be challenging. We have show and tell, and let me tell you the guild ladies are talented and creative and make the most beautiful quilts and wall hangings, it is very inspiring. If you like to quilt I cannot think of a better group to join than a local quilt guild, you will learn lots of new things and meet super nice people.

I used to belong to a book club, it had six to eight members, we each took a turn hosting by inviting everyone to our home, making dinner and enjoying each others company, talking about the book. At that time we all had school age children, full time work, and all the busyness that comes with that stage of life. We kept going for several years but eventually it just fizzled out. I missed book club but could never get anyone interested in doing another one until this past fall. I put out an invite on Facebook and my good friend of many, many years said she would love to do book club again. And a former co-worker, now retired, and still coping with the sudden death of his wife eighteen months ago also wanted to join. My friend invited another friend and now we have a book club of four. We meet every single month at a restaurant and we are entering our fifth month, it has worked out really well. I look forward to our book club night, and I have to say our little group has gelled nicely and we have lively discussions and a good time. Our first book was The Keeper of Lost Things and we met at Cheddars, and it was a little awkward, as we all kind of introduced ourselves and settled in. Our next book was Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi and we met at a Turkish restaurant, this meeting was much better as we were now acquainted and knew each other a bit. We then read The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides and met at a Bistro. This month we read And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini and met at The Trolley Bar. We are now reading Territory Of Light by Yuko Tsushima and we will be meeting at a locally owned Asian restaurant. Now when we meet it is joyous, we all know each other, and the conversation flows. If you pick the book you pick the restaurant, it works out really well and I am always able to find something vegan to eat.

I did try a yoga class, it was classified as restorative yoga and was very relaxing. I quite enjoyed it until we had to start doing partners yoga. Partners yoga might have been a little easier if perhaps the instructor allowed for some social time at the start for everyone to introduce themselves so we could get to know each other. However, the fifteen minutes of "social time" mainly involved the instructor talking incessantly about her own life with no opening for anyone else, it was odd. The class only had about ten students so it would have been nice to have a sort of circle time of sharing before we started. Anyway, on the sixth week partners yoga was introduced, I had to sit back to back with a lady I didn't know and get our breathing in sync. Then we had to take turns to massage the other persons shoulders etc. it was way, way too much touchy feely for me with someone whose name I didn't even know! Needless to say that was the last time I attended. 

My husband has enjoyed not having to go to work, he had a hard physically challenging job and he was coming home totally exhausted and I was worried he would die at work. Retirement has done him a world of good, he is no longer totally exhausted, no longer stressed, enjoys doing little projects around the house and most importantly he is happy. Dave is back to baking bread, he makes a batch every week. He enjoys making snacks for the grandsons when they get home from school. He goes to pick up grandsons who have to stay after school for various clubs and activities, and likes his slower pace of life. And has rediscovered the joy of cooking. Dave is not vegan, so he makes his food, and I make mine.

Mr. Retiree

So here we are, suddenly in retirement  It seems like we just sped through the tunnel of life, getting married, we just celebrated our 38th anniversary, having children, raising the children, going to children's weddings, welcoming the grandchildren, helping with the grandchildren, working, all the things that make up a busy life, and then whamo blamo you reach retirement age that time that always seemed impossibly far off in the future. It leaves you with a  kind of dazed and confused feeling and a need to figure out new structure to the days. It is a time to embrace hobbies, and, not to sound too corny, to live, laugh, love for life is short and time flies by.

Peace and all goodwill,

Bean