#39 Retirement

It sometimes seems that everyone I see asks, "How's retirement?"

I always answer, "Lovely, thank you!" -- but frankly, it is very weird.

Here are the good parts:
I wear Chucks every day. I've only worn heels twice: once when interviewing a CEO for the Post (more on that in a moment;) and when I've spoken to 3rd graders at City Hall. The current Council all work so I have agreed to fill in on addressing 3rd graders when no one can make it.
I have decided I am going to wear Chucks everywhere I go, regardless of the venue. If I wear Chucks to a funeral and someone doesn't like it, they can deal.

I sometimes get to sleep late. Since I drive A to preschool twice a week and tutor twice a week, I have to get up and get going more than I'd like. Yet I guess it's a good thing to have something to make me get up.

I have fewer headaches, both figuratively and physically. The former Mayor who *loved* to call and scream at me is no longer in my life. Heck, I don't watch Council online and rarely read the news articles about them.

I get more grandchildren time.

The negatives:
I have yet to find a good rhythm to my new life. I'm free-lancing for the Post again, which is great, but the work is irregular which means my life has jam-packed days and little-to-do days. I'd rather have a routine.

Lots of illness. I had eye surgery at Christmas and the flu for 3 weeks in January. I've had a monster cold this week. A pinched nerve in my neck since November finally got so painful I have sought serious help for it. This week I am using chiropractor, physical therapy AND massage to try and finally heal it. The physical therapist thinks it's a bulging disk rather than a pinched nerve. The pinched nerve is my own diagnosis and heck, what do I know?  All these health issues are probably a good reason that I have not yet been able to develop a routine.


Overall I hope to:
Meditate every morning (very off/on these days)
Practice yoga at least every other day.

Day by day I feel I am getting closer to my goal. My sweet hubby is very good at realizing not everything is instant. Me, I'm still learning. #LoveMyLife

#38 First Time Ever!

I had the privilege last night of introducing our great grandson to the magic of Play-Doh. It was a pretty amazing experience.

First we set ground rules: Play-Doh only comes out of the can here at the island. Not in the living room. Not anywhere else. Only here. If we drop any, we must quickly pick it up. If the dog eats it, she will be very sick.

He understood.

He played with one chunk of the stuff for an hour and 15 minutes. Uninterrupted. He squished it. He squeezed. Often he inhaled the heady smell. He was so happy! He sang. He worked. Most of all, he enjoyed.

I wish I had taken a pic but I did not want to break the magical spell it had on him.

I sat nearby reading the WSJ just in case he needed me. I did show him how to make a snake and how to make a ball -- two vital skills in Play Doh sculpture. At first these skills eluded him, but he persisted and by the end of the hour plus, he was casually rolling out balls like he'd been doing it all his life.

After the first hour had passed, I had finished the paper and got involved, myself. We worked together to build whatever he requested: Papaw; a train; a dinosaur.

He shocked me with his math skills. "Ok, I'm making Papaw's boots. How many boots does Papaw have?" "TWO!"

On the dinosaur I placed two front legs and he grew anxious, pointing to the rear, saying we needed two more. I was amazed.

Years ago an educator friend told me we always underestimate our children.

She was right.

#LoveMyLife

#37 SNOW!

North Carolina always has one last snow a week or two before the first day of spring. Maybe after.

We had ours yesterday and it was a lollapalooza. It started as a rainy mix and slowly evolved into big, airy snowflakes, the size of half-dollars. (Do they even have half dollars anymore?) Hubby called them "goose feather snowflakes."

I was out running errands all morning and was surprised when I left the grocery to find a full-on snow. After getting home it was a great day to stay in and catch up on work for my pt job.

Growing up in Alabama, snow was pretty much a magical affair. I never saw snow on the ground without grass sticking out of it, until I moved to Virginia at age 27. When I was little, Mother would send us out to gather snow for snow cream. The only place we could gather clean snow was off the sliding board of our swing set.

North Carolina has real snow -- so that the ground is covered, and there are narrow, illogical piles balanced on railings and branches. I'm all grown up now but when it snows, the Alabama child in me comes out. I freeze and stare with my mouth open. It will always be magic.

#LoveMyLife

#36 Thankful

Two years ago I bought a frother so I could make my own chai at home. I had learned I can't do dairy so I buy coconut creamer and whip it up just like a barista. The frother was an extravagance but I figure after two years we are making a profit now every time I don't go to a coffee shop. And -- who wouldn't want to start his day like this?

On another grateful note, I'd like to give a shout out to my husband. He is pretty unassuming and doesn't ever try to grab the spotlight.

I had ants in my office Wednesday -- in the most unlikely place -- under the pedestal of my iMac. It was a regular colony, hundreds of the things swarming and creeping to other corners of my office.

It was like a bad dream.

One scream and my sweet hubby calmly resolved the problem for me. Sprayed them and then patiently cleaned up all the little corpses.

In another incident, I was dashing out the door yesterday with a handful of recycling and my ring got caught in a metal loop inside the screen door. The loop that holds the spring onto the door. Well somehow that loop caught my ring and actually went up inside the setting from behind. All in a fraction of a second.

There I was, stuck on the front porch, unable to work it loose. I tried to take my ring off but the loop had enough of it cocked sideways, I was unable to get it off.

I was in a fix.

I yelled for hubby. He was eating a piece of chicken. "WHAT!" he yelled back, his mouth full. "Help!" I yelled.

No answer.

"JOSEPH HELP ME!"

He came running and sized up the situation. I was pretty panicky. He ran for pliers, straightened out the loop that was holding me hostage, and once I was free, bent it back into place.

That was a close one.

I had a couple of tries before finding this husband and can't explain what a luxury it is to have someone big and strong and calm who loves to solve my dilemmas. I am thankful.

#LoveMyLife

#35 More Bread Please

Dear Hubby will be working night shift for the next week due to a planned outage at his work, so we planned to go out for dinner last night for a little quality time to tide us over. One complication: We had A with us as his Momma was working.
We couldn't have asked for a more well-behaved young man.
The restaurant brought a little loaf of brown bread with a pot of butter to tide us over until dinner came. A *loved* this bread. He ate a piece and promptly said, "More bread, please," and continued to do so until the loaf was almost gone.
Hubby was enjoying the bread, as well, and A must have noticed it -- because the last time he asked for more, I cut the end of the loaf into 2 slices. I buttered the next-to-the-last slice of bread and handed it to A. "That's Papaw's," he said, and pointed to the big guy next to him.
I smiled at his generosity and began buttering the last slice of bread. "That's mine," he said, and we gladly gave it to him.
It's pretty unlike a 2-year-old to be so kind and generous, but it's very like this 2-year-old. We love him so.

#34 Saturdate

My fella and I had our regular Saturdate today. It always starts with his favorite, pancakes. Today we sat facing the boulevard remarking on the trucks that passed by. "Big truck!" "Blue truck!" and so on. Alas, we did not see any emergency vehicles, his favorite -- so after breakfast I drove to the fire station. We lingered on the edge of the parking lot, watching the firefighters perform safety checks on their trucks. After a few minutes they noticed us and invited A to sit in a fire truck.
I lifted him into the driver's seat and he froze. The diesel engine was running very loudly, and lights were flashing, and, it was either too loud for him, or too much, but he froze up. He did thank the firefighter and we went on our way.
I began to drive home when he asked if we could go play with trains.
There are two locations with public toy train tables -- the library and the book store.
I continued to drive home. When we crossed Main Street, he said, "That way!" and pointed to the left. The book store is, in fact, on Main Street, to the left, down two blocks.
I had missed my chance to turn so I continued on. He began making noise in the back seat to play with trains so I took a left and turned in to the library. Understanding this is another train location, he cheered from his car seat and we unloaded.
He spent a glorious two hours in the library playing with trains uninterrupted. When it got close to nap time I suggested we have a treasure hunt for books about trains. I, as always, headed for Watty Piper's "The Little Engine that Could." A disappeared just a minute and reappeared holding a Thomas the Train book.
We headed to Circulation and checked them out.
At the house, we lay down for a nap. A did not want me to read to him. He read one book, page by page. At the last page, he laid down the book, pulled a blanket over his head, and went to sleep.
I have never run into such a sweet and compliant child in my life.
#LoveMyLife

#33 We Bought It!

We bought the warehouse and 1.8 acres adjacent to the church. Jody loves to go hang out there. We've had repeated discussions where I asked what is the purpose of it? and have not gotten a clear answer yet -- but he feels it is Providential (capital P intentional) and I am a patient person. Sigh. Very patient. He has been patient with me before, too.

I'm doing a little part-time work for the local paper and am working on 4 articles right now.

I'm taking a Figure Drawing class in March and truly look forward to learning more about drawing.

Spring is just around the corner. We have daffodils in the yard and in the house, as well. It's windy and a little cold, but the sky is blue and I know we will have a spring. That said, there's sort of a guarantee that we'll have another snow -- we always have a late one -- but then things bloom.

I am expanding the flower beds on the sides of the front yard -- they are too narrow. I've not done any actual work other than pulling the chickweed, but I'm up to "here" in gardening books and magazines, trying to design what goes where. The goal, of course, is to have blooms in the yard and in the house 3 seasons of the year.

Wish me luck..