Confessions of a Grandma

The first things I loved about retirement was that I didn't have to wake up in the morning to the sound of an alarm clock and that I did not have to follow a schedule.  Not having to wake up to a blaring alarm clock--I love that still, pretty sure I always will.  Lately, though, I have been bothered by a lack of schedule--maybe not schedule so much as some kind of routine.  It is almost cliche for retired folks to complain that there is not enough time in the day to fit in everything they want to do, but I have been feeling that. I have been feeling that I have all these "things" to do and yet that I am spinning wheels and being quite unproductive.  I start one thing and then get distracted by something else that seems important to be doing.  I go out to clean out the car and notice that weeds need to be pulled along the driveway.  I sit down to write and get distracted by the beep of the dryer calling me to fold laundry.  I put water on ...

Related to my last post...the feeling that summer is ending is much less of a moodiness trigger now that I have been retired for several years.  I always had trouble readjusting my routines both at the beginning of the school year and then again at the end of the school year.  Now the changing of the seasons just reminds me that time marches on and I am getting older and then I am over it.  I appreciate that my time is pretty much my own at this phase of my life.  I am aware of the passing of seasons, years, and yet can feel like I am much more in the moment.  It was the right thing for me. I have just finished reading Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.  I found it to be a very satisfying book--much like a well-prepared meal paired with the appropriate wine.  It's a long book, over 650 pages.  The fact that the story did not tax my attention span speaks volumes. Lately, my list of books to read has grown quite lengthy.  That's anothe...

Immediately after posting about my delight with my retirement life, I got a call from my old school district with an offer of a long term substitute position.  Amazingly, I feel a bit guilty for declining, but I think I can muster the resolve. I realize that both my health and independence are gifts to be appreciated while I have them, because they are not going to last forever. ************ It's not the parking lot I find so objectionable.  It's the people who use it as a trash receptacle, an open air bathroom, and a handy assignation spot (in broad daylight on more than one occasion). ************ I bought an MP3 player.  (I know, welcome to the 21st century, me!)  I thought it might be nice to listen to audio books while doing the housework.  I thought I would have to get my grandchildren over to show me how to use it, but I did manage to figure it out--at least get some music into it.  I can download books from the State library throu...

When I first started teaching, our teachers' union had a workshop on the state retirement plan for teachers. My eyes tend to glaze over and my attention wonder when anything financial is under discussion, but somehow I did take away from that session the image of a three legged stool. The presenter said that the state teachers' pension was only one leg of a three legged stool. The other two legs were social security and personal savings. The intention was to get us thinking that the quality of our retirement was more under our control if we planned wisely and saved for the life we wanted for our retirement years. Well, who at the tender age of 21 or so believes they will ever retire? And who, on a beginning teacher's salary in those days, was very successful at socking away spare cash? And once a young family starts to grow, who even has enough for mortgage and groceries, let alone spare cash to stash in a piggy bank? No one in my social circle, for sure. But as time passed...

I was interested to read the post "Style--You Must be Kidding" in A Slower Pace . I picked up a copy of Dress Your Best: The Complete Guide to Finding the Style That's Right for Your Body by Clinton Kelly and Stacy London, the duo who does the TLC show, "What Not to Wear." Yes, I admit that I watch that show on occasion and when I saw the book at the local library, I checked it out and have spent some time skimming through it. Now, Stacy and Clinton, it seems to me, do not seem to fully understand that the metropolitan New York life style and fashion demands do not necessarily translate to life in, say, rural Vermont or retirement living near the beach in Florida. I have never in my life been to an event that required a cocktail dress or anything like a formal, full length gown, so the emphasis on "evening wear" just goes over my head. On the other hand, the styles that they picked out to flatter different body types really did show flattering fit. I...

A friend sent this e-mail "special" for me. What exactly is she trying to tell me? Hmm? After Christmas, a teacher asked her young pupils how they spent their holiday away from school.One child wrote the following:We always used to spend the holidays with Grandma and Grandpa. They used to live in a big brick house but Grandpa got retarded and they moved to Arizona. Now they live in a tin box and have rocks painted green to look like grass. They ride around on their bicycles and wear name tags because they don't know who they are anymore.They go to a building called a wreck center, but they must have got it fixed because it is all okay now, they do exercises there, but they don't do them very well. There is a swimming pool too, but they all jump up and down in it with hats on.At their gate, there is a doll house with a little old man sitting in it. He watches all day so nobody can escape. Sometimes they sneak out, and go cruising in their golf carts.Nobody there ...