Thursday, May 27, 2010

A busy retirement

After nearly two blog-less months, I have at last the time, energy and motivation to post. How can a retired person not have time to post a few lines? You may well ask.

For me the secret of a fulfilling retirement is to balance an easier lifestyle with a variety of activities. After over forty years of working 50+ hour weeks, I had the opportunity to retire early. Believe me, it wasn't how I choose to, but a mild heart attack provided the wake-up call I needed to change my life-style.

A five-year "vacation" in southern Spain helped Gail and I realize that retirement is not all "sun, sand and sangria", hence our decision to move not only countries but continents. I have drooled over the quality of living we experience here in the magnificent state of North Carolina before, so will skip back the my point.

Although dear Leslie encouraged us to make the move, she did confess that "we might not find so many things to do with our time here as on the Costa del Sol." Leslie is usually right in her observations - she's not a respected life coach for nothing - but how wrong she was on this one.

A full schedule of daily activities keeps us both mentally, spiritually and sometimes physically challenged (and I still usually find time for a nap). Gail often teases me for my addiction to "my computer". It is not so. The addiction, if there is one, is to the wonderful world of communication, learning and keeping abreast with all of my many interests, not the computer itself. Gail has so many interests (none of which require a laptop to enjoy) that it's hard to keep up with them all.

However, we do use a proportion of our time away from the computer, the knitting, the reading, the crafts, in the pursuit of happiness, not necessarily of ourselves, but by helping others. Now we have time to smell the roses. It's a wonderful life, for which we are grateful on a daily basis.

Even our cats have retired!

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