My Retirement Journey

I was going to write about this topic earlier but I wasn't sure how to explain my approach to retirement.  Well, retirement is for the rest of my life.  I could have worked longer to the age of 70, but after losing my best girl friend to cancer, I thought "if I can, I am going to take the time rather than the money".  One of my friends from high school,  that I follow on Facebook, retired last summer.  Suddenly she was in Hawaii, traveling to Europe, and moving to Colorado to be close to her family.  What she did in 3 months, I would have taken 3 years to do all of these.  My friend and ex-coworker is on the road in their RV.  I've had none of these plans.  I guess I didn't get the memo.  It wouldn't have mattered, I seem to do what I am comfortable in doing.  I saw this photo on Facebook and it summed up how I thought nicely.  I will probably go places in time but I want to really plan it all out..  

This was Thursdays post but something happened...  Anyway I put jewelry under self care because, even though it's a 2?00?p⁰30a??, it is therapy to me.  When I went through my divorce in 2010 - 2011, I discovered I could go places I always wanted to go.  My ex-husband wasn't interested much in going to some places I would love to go.  One of those places was Port Townsend WA.  It's about 2 1/2 hours from where we live.  It could be a day trip but Kari, the boys, and I made our trip there overnight trips.  We had got to know it so well, that we could actually spend two days there easily when we went.   One area there we went to was North Beach where we would walk the beach looking for sea glass.  We would make a challenge out of it.  The one who could find the rarest color, such as red or cobalt blue would get points, large pieces would get points, or unusual pieces or pottery would earn points.  The ones to usually win were Kari and Riley.  I have a lot of sea gl

Last summer Kari started getting house plants and succulents.  Our kitchen windows, shelves, her bedroom and now the living room window is full of plants.  She use to kill plants but she is now repoting them etc.  I wondered "who is this person?" but it seems to be giving her a lovely hobby.  The next thing I knew I bought a few plants to try and she took them over.  I think I will have to stick to gardening.  Did you know besides a Thanksgiving cactus and a Christmas cactus, there's an Easter cactus too?

Riley got outside yesterday and did a lot of yard clean up.  My right shoulder has been giving me aches and pains, so I truly appreciate his starting to get control.  He filled up 6 30 gallon bags of weeds, tree needles, and more.  You would think we had a farm and not a small lot.  He has it where I can see where to jump in and do more.  Tomorrow the weather is suppose to be nice.  So was today but it was cool and windy instead.  Here's hoping.

Two months ago I left GRC to retire.  The first month honestly I don't count as my transition since all I could do is rest and stop feeling like I was on vacation/ going back to work.  So forget February. March came and that feeling of going back to work started to leave.  I started back to church two Sundays a month after 3 years of watching it online.  I went to a luncheon and a weekly study on praise.  Also, hoping to reconnect with friends again and make new friends.  And I did but need to continue in other areas such as Young at Heart.   Home projects I need to plan and do more in April.  March was cooler and I didn't get done what I hoped.  I am feeling spring cleaning coming on. Family, I felt I spent time with each family member with lunch, supported them in the things they do, etc.  Went shopping with Kari and out to lunch... and also with some friends. Finances - always in progress.  I got my taxes done this month.  I am receiving my benefits.  I changed s

Today I took Riley and Brady out to lunch.  It was a place we hadn't gone before.  It was very good and will probably go there again sometime.  It's their break between quarters and they worked really hard.  In the summers, when I had Fridays off, we would plan something to do.  I called them Fabulous Fridays.  Museums, movies, festivals, parks, fairs, etc. Now that they're older and more busy, I look for opportunities to do things together.   Monday it will mark 2 months of being retired.  Can you believe it?  Time marches on.  I will evaluate how I am doing Monday.  Have a great weekend.

I thought I would add an extra post today since I missed a couple of days.   Today I went over to the college to have lunch with Irina as planned.  I talked a little with everyone in the office and then we went over to the Student Union.  It was great to see everyone.  They asked how i was adjusting.  It was hard to remember they were working.  I wanted to keep socializing.   Irina and I caught up a little and made our next lunch to be on April 20th.  

Sorry for being absent.  This week the boys finished finals and they started their break.  Riley asked if he could speak to a financial advisor this week and so I made an appointment.  We went to see Tanya and learn about CDs, money market accounts, and retirement accounts.  Leave it to Riley to think about these things.  I didn't at his age.  The next thing I knew after he learned about the differences was we moved money around.  I have two banks and one offers a better savings rate... it wasn't the one I had my savings in.  Here I am at 67 learning from my 19 year old grandson.  I am proud of him.

I am so excited that today is the first day of Spring! We began to do some yard clean up this last weekend. This week I plan to plant seeds. I am still afraid to put out flowers. The cherry blossoms and daffodils became blooming this last weekend! It does my heart good!

My paternal grandmother, Lucy, was 100% Irish. The first of our family came from the County Tyrone in Ireland. James Benson was 18 years old when he left Ireland on a ship for $30. He worked 6 years for a Philadelphia weaver. Before the Revolutionary War, he bought 400 acres in South Carolina and lived there until he died in 1790. His son moved to Indiana, my great grandfather moved to Kansas due to securing land from the railroad company (he taught in a college for 25 yrs before moving to Kansas) in 1877 which was a part of his retirement plan, my grandmother moved to California in the 1920s and I moved to Washington. The Benson family has moved everywhere. My cousin moved back to Indiana. I have this information from my great grandfather's obituary that was a full page in their newspaper when he passed away in 1904. He was a prominent man in his county. I guess it might have been common then to know one's family tree. Somehow keeping family information etc became

I've spoke about my dad's parents, but not any other family members yet. I talk about family good and bad because I believe it's helpful. I believe in the truth being told or how else can one fix it? One truth in my family is that many members have dealt with anxiety and addiction. No surprise there, huh? A lot of people deal with it. My mom did. When I was in elementary school my mom was having a difficult time. I guess she was in her early thirties and she was depressed. I don't know if she knew it or if she knew what to do about it. She did discover that drinking a beer helped. But in time she needed more to keep the bad feelings away. Drinking was acceptable and she she saw no harm. Then, she needed it. Later in life, she became sober. She overcame it.   It effected everyone in the family one way or another. Being the oldest and knowing what she did, I poured a lot of alcohol down the drain fighting back. I learned that addiction is found

This is my second week of studying 7 words of Praise. I do enjoy my group of 4 ladies. This study isn't long. Anyway, we discussed how our culture or tradition has taught us not to be more expressive. In the past, I knew where I could be more expressive and where not to be. Not until the Jesus Revolution did I know anything... like one could enjoy contemporary praise music. Then I was called a Jesus Freak. No matter what there are negative people. I am surprised but then I am. There's judgement no matter who you are. I was confused at first when I was called a name... now I just don't care. I just want to be kind because those types are probably confused.

I am trying very hard to put into place a little schedule to create structure to my retirement days. The silly adding an hour daylight saving changed knocked me off my schedule yesterday. Didn't we vote that we would keep it to one schedule? This has always been difficult... and my brain thinks it shouldn't be that hard. I found myself waking up late for one. I went to bed late too because of the change. Also, one clock that I thought changed automatically didn't and I had 9 minutes to get ready for a birthday celebration that the family was leaving for rather than the hour I thought we had. But I managed. Do you have issues with the time change?

On this day, three years ago I was sent home with a laptop and a few items from work to help me get by for a few weeks. I drove home to set up a make shift desk until the Corona Virus passed through our community like the flu. I remember being parked in my driveway looking at spring blooming but that was the only sense of normal I could feel. Covid didn't pass. It stayed, and we worked remotely at home for two and a half years. We will forever be changed from this tragic experience. There are lessons we learned as well. For me, this was truly a Friday the Thirteenth. 

This week I have messed up my flow in blogging. Yesterday I had writer's block. Sometimes that happens. It always surprises me because I usually always have something to say. I have had a family, Elisabeth and her daughter Annalise on my mind, and prayers. Elisabeth is Kari's good friend since she was 12. Annalise is 17 and ill with Potters Syndrome (I think that's what Kari told me). Annalise has been in and out of the hospital. Everyone is losing hope that things will become normal. Kari is asking a her friends and family to pray for Annalise and everyone involved. My hope is that good news comes soon. You never know what people are going through. Seems to be more the case these days. Always be kind even if you don't understand why they are acting rude etc. There's more to their story. Spring is coming. Daylight saving is here. Until Monday...

I went to class on Tuesday and something went wrong with posting this, so I Tam adding it now until i can figure out how to change the date.  This is one Hebrew word of 7 for describing praise. It means to celebrate or to boast. It comes from way deep inside a person. Many people dance around with joy. The example they gave us is the celebration of happiness and celebration at a Jewish wedding. Everyone dances and shouts excitement. I tried to think of times in my life when I may have experienced halal. Maybe when I fell in love, had a baby, bought a house? What makes a person experience that level of joy? Can we more often? Social norms or my culture has placed limits but how sweet it is. 

My heart is heavy today but I am trying to be positive by celebrating a friend's life. I usually celebrate someone's birthday who's passed rather than the we lost them. But I can't help it; maybe next year I can start. My friend and coworker Sal died 2 years ago today due to Covid. He was the best! Always caring for and encouraging others. We would banter like a brother and sister. Him and his blue tape... putting it on us as we went through the food line just because he thought it was funny. I called him on it and took the blue tape. He joked and said I was no fun. He was from Alaska. I don't know from which Native American nation, but his sister mentioned that in his culture they put paddles upward for honoring someone. On Amazon I got this small paddle and wrote his name on it. It hung in my room/ and later at work at my desk. When I retired, I gave it to the Student Union/ Center to hang in his memory. It is hanging there today. Sal, you're never

I wasn't very creative my first month of retirement. I didn't make one lanyard. I decided for my field trip today I would go to Joanne's craft store. I was there in November but since spring is coming, I was sure they had a different inventory. So my plan was to drop off Brady at his Robotics club at the high school at 9am and then go to the Joanne's in Kent. There was a new inventory and Christmas as well as Valentine's Day decorations were on sale but nothing that I cared for. Also, there were some St. Patrick Day items but I didn't care for any of it. I  did find a floral box to store things in for 50% off. Then  I discovered that the beads were 60% off. How great a time to shop for beads! Which of course I bought a supply. I need to get out  my beads and organize the for Spring. This will get me back to being creative again.

"You haven't yet realized that right now, in your life, you can do anything! You can get in the car this minute and drive to Oregon, say. There's nothing that could stop you." explained Riley. "Who wants to drive to Oregon." I replied. "You know what I mean." he responded with a smile.   What I have been working on is establishing a routine to replace the routine I had as a working person. Other than a couple of times, I haven't left the house. Of course, there's been cold days but spring is coming. Riley would like me to get out more and explore my interests. He's right. Wise for a 19 year old. So we made a deal, that I would revisit places I use to go or do on a daily basis. My first field trip was to Trader Joes. I hadn't been there since the Christmas before the pandemic.   Trader Joes is fun for me. I bought flowers, a few items I use to like, and took time to look around. It really was therapy but I liked it and fe

I normally have a planner. It would be somewhat small 5x7 to be able to carry to work daily. It would also be an academic calender; July to June. My planner was getting to where I wouldn't have all the summer months. I mentioned it to Kari and she said jokingly that it was time to get a "Big Girls" planner. What she meant was I could graduate to a planner that I could use at home and it could be larger. Suddenly, I felt that sense of freedom again that my retirement has brought me. Online the planners were discounted since it's March and not January. Riley told me that he noticed I have yet to understand what having all the time in the world can mean to me. He said " you don't act like you can get in the car right now and drive to Oregon if you wanted." It's a mindset that's the challenge. Hopefully this planner will help me plan a daily outing.

Last September I began my steps to retirement. Now that it's all in place, it's time for adding a little more to my retirement days. I am well rested. It doesn't feel so surreal now. It's time to get ready for Spring and Summer! It's time to start seeds to plant etc. It's time for Spring cleaning inside and outside. I think I will get under the kitchen sink where all our cleaning supplies have been and see what we have to work with. Bet I will be surprised. I will let you know...