Mama Says Monday: Retirement

Me and Aleta at my retirement party.

So....I'm retired, and you know what that means. You get to sleep till noon, you can decide if you are going to get dressed or stay in your pjs, watch your soaps all afternoon, then sit on in your rocking chair on the porch and enjoy the sunset you never got to view when your were a part of the working world. Day after day, I get to fill up my day with mindless activity. Not!!!!!! Oh, and by the way, if someone asks you to do something, there is no reason you should refuse, because after all, you are retired and have all the time in the world. This remark was made to me recently, and the more I have thought about it, the more aggravated I have become.

So, let me tell you about my retirement days. I have a job to go to on Mondays and Tuesdays. It is not a hard job by any means, but it is a job. I proofread for a local newspaper. 

Tuesday nights, I spend digging through my cookbooks, or go online to look for recipes that I can use for my Wednesday job. After deciding on generally three recipes, I make my shopping list. On Wednesdays, I get up late (around 8:00 instead of 7:00), shop for the items that I need, and head to church, to begin my afternoon. I generally prepare desserts to feed around 150 people.  I try to make at least three choices plus jello. Someone else prepares the main dish and sides. But mostly, there is three of us, until later. We serve the meal, then help with cleanup. I generally get home around 7:00 p.m. This day is much more physical than Mondays and Tuesdays, and I can barely move by the time I get home. 

Me and My Sister-In-Law, Angie, at the retirement party.

I try to reserve Thursday mornings for rest, but that doesn't always happen. This week, I took water samples for my brother, then delivered his samples and another farmer's to Gainesville. Last year I drove the samples to Homosassa. So this year's samples don't have to travel so far. I stopped on the way back at Publix, and then came home. I had planned to stop at the nursing home, but didn't because I had purchased yogurt. And I felt guilty about not stopping. I forgot to mention that I had gone to the nursing home after work on Monday and Tuesday. I went to visit my aunt on Friday, and we went out to lunch.

I got home at 5:00 and my girls and I went to Gainesville to pick up an item and went to dinner. Saturday was the first day in about 4 weeks that I didn't have somewhere to go. But I still had a busy day working on costumes for our Easter play at church. I sewed until 9:30 p.m. Got up and went to church this morning, went upstairs to sew until time to go to church this afternoon, to check fitting of the costumes and take measurements for another one. Then, I finally got back to the nursing home to visit with my mother-in-law.And tomorrow begins a new week. Now can you see why I'm just a little offended when someone says "After all, you're retired. You have plenty of time!"

Until next week, I'll just be over here takin' it easy!

Cynthia Kay