Time

My one main thought for the last year has been, when I retire I am not going to work anymore. Coworkers would ask, “So what are you going to do when you retire,” and I would reply, “Not come to work.” I really hadn’t given it much more thought than that. Partly, this was because I have never had a shortage of things that interest me to keep me busy. I have been between jobs several times in my career and have never had a problem keeping busy. This time is different.

The main reason is because I am sharing the experience this time with my type A wife. She is hard wired to always be busy. I, as you might guess, have no problem sitting down when the work is done and doing nothing, perhaps even taking a nap. To quote a line from “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, “I’m not wasting time, it’s only your limited culture point of view that makes it seem so.” She looks over at me in such times though, and I have to admit here I don’t know quite what she is thinking and that’s probably all for the best, but there is a not so subtle change in her aura, and I instinctively know she is wishing something like, “I wish he would get up off his skinny little @## and do something productive.”

This retirement thing is still new for both of us and we both realize there is not enough to keep us both busy. We will figure this out, and it will take time. Until then things may be a little uncomfortable for both of us, and I’m okay with that. Really.