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| (Not me) |
Still, every morning I can get up as I please. I dress as I like. I set my own daily goals. My grandchildren will have many memories of me because I am with them a lot. It is not what I planned but it is not bad. My home is paid for, so all I must worry about are the taxes and maintenance. Ditto for my car. I get by.
What's more is that I finally have the time to do the things I have wanted to do all my life. Last year I published a book. This year I finished the genealogy of my father's family. I am teaching my grandkids how to think, how to write, and hopefully, how to put one foot in front of the other and just live. I have my own pottery studio and though a health problem interferes with my ability to use it often, I have kept it, and sometimes just sit there because it makes me happy to know that I finally mastered this craft I have loved all my life.
Retirement to me isn't traveling around, staying in hotels, or seeking adventure. It is feeling my own life deeply, being at no one's beck and call, and accomplishing things I value. Retirement is a kind of freedom - with an expiration date, I know, but still. So I do a little yoga, tend to my dogs, write a bit, maybe throw a pot or teach my granddaughter how to throw. I shop when the stores are not busy and read at my leisure. Life is good.
I feel exactly the same way about retirement. I'm doing so many things that I didn't have time to do, but traveling doesn't appeal to me at all. I love being able to get up when I want....although I still get up the same time...and I love being able to get up on a rainy day and not having to go out in it if I don't feel like it. Financially, I too am not as well off as I'd hoped. An ex husband cleaned me out, so after working 50 years, I live on SS and a small pension. But, I have a roof over my head, food to eat, and activities I enjoy that are not costing me a penny. I'm happy.
ReplyDeleteSo many women I know feel the same way. It is the freedom from schedule, not the freedom of finance we seek.
DeleteExactly. I never worked after marriage, although I work hard, it's the 'because it's there and I need to" stuff. But my husband took early retirement from the Navy Yard here, after 25 years.
ReplyDeleteI was a bit dubious, as we are not backpocket people, and my concern was how much compromising would we have to make?
Very little. He had his car, I had mine. He literally has his own life apart from me, and I from him. He is the carpenter, the welder, the builder. I'm the wood stacker, the gardener, the occasional housefrau.
He's a happy man, and regrets none of it, nor do I. I no longer have to get up at 4 AM to bundle him off to work, and he no longer gets up before 7. we're comfortable in ourselves and in each other, most of the time, and from what I've seen that's a rarity.
The people I feel sorry for are the (usually men) who retire after 50 years and realize they have no idea what they're going to do with all that time. They've never developed a hobby, an outlook, a passion. And they are so bored...
My SO lives four blocks away and we are happy with our arrangement. Both of us know what to do with our time and do not seek meaning in having the best car or lowest golf score. We are fortunate people.
Delete(I just found your blog.) Thank you for this wonderful perspective on retirement. Although I turn 65 this fall, I don't plan to retire until 2 years time, hoping that the extra $$ coming in will enable me to travel a wee bit before getting out the support hose and sensible shoes. But like you, my 'plans' went quite far astray. I constantly remind myself of how fortunate I am to be healthy, have a few people who love me and a good safe place to live and walk. Thanks again.
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