The art of being retired.

Here am I at last. I now can do whatever I want, be whoever I choose to be. I retired on April 1.  I immediately set out to get sick in any way I could - diverticulosis, stroke number five, and my back as bad as it's been in years.  So whatever I wanted was sleep, sleep, sleep.  I slept and watched a lot of movies and binge watched a lot of TV - cable shows mostly that I was able to find online after some searching.

But gradually I started to wake up and now I'm working on acquiring the habits I want to have in my retirement.  One is exercise - which I do at Aquacare, a physical therapy heated pool.  It is closed whenever there is lightening which is unfortunate with the weather we've had recently (thank you, CO2). Along with that is writing. I'm using some writing exercise books that I bought a few years ago and am only just now putting to use. After getting those two in my consciouness, I've added a daily period of decluttering (just started, not yet a habit). Exercise had to be a prerequisite because physical pain made writing and decluttering quite difficult.

PS This afternoon I was reading http://www.brainpickings.org ... a great resource on writing ... and it seems that many writers put exercise (including swimming) into their daily routines. Good to know!

Growing old is not for sissies

Soon I'll be 65. I've retired recently. I was pretty much forced to by my (lack of) health. Arthritis flare up, gastrointestinal stuff followed closely by stroke number five (still unknown source of blood clot). The hospital stay after the stroke was so uncomfortable that my back is now giving me enough discomfort for me to be bedridden. If I were more comfortable, I'd be delighted to be retired. So when I'm back on my feet, I will be.  My income is very small, but I'm comfortable, and I have health insurance which eats up more than my pension.

For the first time in several years, I've got two rooms, a complete kitchen and a bathroom big enough to dance in. The videos show off my paintings by my grandmother, Eric Dennard, and my son. My son stays every other weekend along with my grandson ... so delightful.

Hello much neglected Blog

I'm out sick for the second day with a sick stomach. I'm watching a gory TV series on Netscape. No, it's not Dexter... that show lost my interest after the third season. I'm up to the fifth season of Wire in the Blood ... it's gorier but the hero has lots of compassion and a really good sense of humor.

I just read on Facebook that a man I used to work with has "joined the ranks of the recession affected unemployed". What's sad and stunning is that he has worked at the same place I worked with him almost 20 years ago. I'm waiting to be let go myself. If it weren't for health insurance, I'd be delighted to retire. I got an offer to get a bonus if I announced my retirement intentions in a few weeks. But they won't pick up my health insurance coverage unless I have 10 years in the system and I only have five years in this county.

I fell out of bed last night. Haven't done that in years and years. And I got back into bed without barely becoming conscious. I think if I'd fully woken up, I'd have had a harder time.