I ask good friends if I can post a writing they share with me. Here is one from a dear friend of over 40 years as she reflects on her retirement. Enjoy
Ahhh, retirement, at long last – I’ll have so much time to do all the things I’ve wanted to do but never managed to get done: organize all the family photos, clean out and declutter all the cabinets and closets, go back to preparing culinary delights the long way instead of using shortcuts, entertain with plenty of time to prepare, travel freely, reconnect with friends and plan fun times…yes, the list goes on.” These are the things I thought I would do when I retired.
I dreamed of leisurely planning my days, or, more importantly, not planning them, as I chose. There is a key word, “chose.” I would drink my coffee with the birds on the patio, in my pajamas, fully indulge my love of plants and gardening, clean windows (a job there is never time to complete), have the perfect house, have friends over for coffee, read novels to my content, and spend time with grandchildren when the desire arose.
I would say I have managed to incorporate the leisurely activities well, but as for organizing photos and all those other orderly, well-planned activities, these are still on my to-do list some 14 years later. I don’t get to pat myself on the back and say, “Well done, JC,” regarding these well-intentioned, but not yet accomplished tasks.
To fill the gap of mental stimulation after retiring, I joined a couple of writing classes, which have been tremendously satisfying, as well as introducing me to a circle of friends who share the same passion for the written word. I have also had the freedom to feed my spiritual longings through Bible studies and prayer groups, which I couldn’t do when working.
Many years of working granted me this wonderful opportunity. Retirement was, for me, a literal and figurative right of passage from the workplace to my sacred place. My sacred place happens to be my patio garden. I call it my sacred place because it is a sanctuary of living things, which nurture my soul with sights, sounds and scents. Here I can meditate and feed my spirit amid sounds of songbirds, sprinkles of morning dew on fresh flowers, and the light mixed fragrances of lavender, gardenia and roses. Here i can often discern the voice of the Good Shepherd.
Sitting in my garden sanctuary, I look to my left at the bloom of a velvet white gardenia, to my right a bright yellow hibiscus, and all around the live oak tree, colored petals compete as if to say “look at me; I’m the prettiest.” I see each plant that I selected and nurtured and am rewarded with beauty and fragrance that seems to say, “thank you.” How would I have ever known cardinals would enjoy my company enough to communicate back and forth with cheerful chirping if I had not had the leisure to spend time with them? Who would have known you could turn a basil plant into a basil topiary tree with a little trimming here and there had I not been granted the time to explore the joys of gardening? These simple pleasures must be akin to those in the original Garden.
I am truly grateful to have the freedom in my later years of having my days directed by whims and pleasures. All in all, I am very satisfied and feel complete in this stage of my life. I have been allowed not only to “stop and smell the roses,” but even to plant a few along the way.
Don't Waste Your Retirement 