Day 1 of the blog

Ok, this is something new for me:  writing a blog.   As I approached retirement, I thought it would be interesting to catalog my thoughts and experiences.  Of course if all you do is just think about it, nothing happens. So after some encouragement from my niece, Diane, who is writing a blog about her pregnancy, I decided to give it a try.  So here goes this new chapter...

The first thing that is noticeable is that I don't have a schedule. I get to choose what each day holds-pretty amazing after many, many years of a full schedule.  And the best part is NO ALARM CLOCK to wake me up before 6 am anymore.  I've loved catching up on some sleep and waking up on my own without that blasted device.

I still have my to do lists, and with trying to get a house on the market, the list is very long.  But the difference now is that Mike and I choose the deadlines for these tasks.  So each day we choose how much work to do and how much to play.  In the past few weeks, we've had some of both. We've traveled to a studio art tour in NE Iowa which got the creative juices flowing. We had a great time visiting family and catching up again. We also hit the house stuff pretty hard. Mike is busy with the deck and siding repair, and I'm cleaning closets and bookshelves resulting in many trips to Goodwill and Half Price Books.

I also got in some great visits with my friends Kelly, and Emily and Brian.  It's good to stay connected and grounded with people who have known me for awhile as I start out on this new path.

It's interesting that I don't miss work at all.  I miss the people at work, but not the tasks and all the things that had been annoying me lately.  I keep asking Mike if I'm doing ok, and he smiles and generally says "yes".  Although I know there are still times I'm pretty intense, I feel like my spring is unwinding in a major way.

Starting my 3rd week of retirement, it's another clean slate.  More house work to do, this time at Mike's house, but also some more time relaxing, exploring art and exercising is in the high level plans(not on paper yet).

So, stay tuned for the adventures that await...

Diane