Retirement Report - Week Two

This marks the end of my second week of retirement and I confess that I’ve made only minimal progress in getting control of my life. Here’s a summary report.

Goal: Sleeping in every morning. (That’s until 9 am or later; I’m not a morning person.)

Monday: Goal achieved.

Tuesday: Vet appointment at 9 am. Set my alarm for 8 to give plenty of time to trick the cats into coming close enough for me to corral them into their carry cases. The cases come out so rarely that they know where they’re headed as soon as they see them.

Wednesday: Set my alarm for 6:35 am because my husband had a 7:30 doctor’s appointment. He can’t seem to set his own alarm correctly. (Turns out he’s been setting it for pm.) Went back to bed, but by then it didn’t feel like “sleeping in.”

Thursday: Luke began yowling around 5:30 am; (it’s spring now.) He followed that by burrowing next to me under the blankets, and then a trip to his window perch. Yowl. Burrow. Perch. Repeat. And repeat again. This was punctuated by a bout of my husband’s morning snoring—brief, but effective. So much for sleeping late.

Friday: Goal achieved, barely. The morning was overcast so Luke slept late, but I had an 11 am appointment, so I was up at 9.

Goals: 1. Declutter and organize stuff to sell or donate and 2. Keep up with my writing.

Monday: Finally set up the computer I bought December 31st. Installing software was a challenge, so I moved on to sorting more photos. Deconstructed two collages (popular in the seventies) and put photos into albums that had room. Looking at pictures of myself decades ago propelled me into a mild depression. Took a restorative nap in the afternoon.

Tuesday: Had late breakfast after trip to the vet. Good news: the cats have put back on some of the weight they had lost. If only they could take if off me, we’d be golden. Wrote first pass at Wednesday’s blog. Spent three hours laying out the 2010 annual report for my old job. A productive day on the computer, but personal goals only half met.

Wednesday: Edited blog post in am. Delivered lunch to husband around noon. (In the afterglow of his encouraging doctor’s visit, he had forgotten it.) From there to my old office to deliver draft of annual report and help prepare the application for the federal charitable campaign. Five and a half hours later, headed home. Another productive day, but again not much progress on my own goals.

Thursday: Made small headway sorting and packing. Began draft of this post. Hand washed some antique table linens from rooms that were just redone. Filed for Social Security online (not a goal, but a critical “to do.”) The question: “Have you ever gone by another name?” reminded me of my previous marriage and led me to wonder what my ex is doing now. At this point in the day I’m easily distracted, so I was off to Google and Facebook to investigate.

Friday am: Met with a curator at my alma mater to arrange donation of some old sheet music. I learned recently that their library has one of the largest collections of sheet music in the country, so mine has gone to a good home. Researched an idea for a future blog. Sorted through more photos and frames. I swear these photos are like the loaves and the fishes. The more I sort through, the more turn up somewhere else.

Friday night: Went with a friend to hear a rock band at a local club. Not my decade of music, nor hers, but the drummer is her friend’s son. This was a tour gig, so we went to cheer him. He couldn’t possibly have heard us above the noise. I’ll tell you one thing: if I didn’t feel like a retiree before Friday night, I sure do now. Next time I’m bringing earplugs. Say what? I said: NEXT TIME I’M BRINGING EARPLUGS.

I gratefully sank into bed around 12:30. At 12:45 my phone rang. It was my husband, who had just closed his store. Someone had borrowed his car during the day, and my husband wandered around for a few blocks, but couldn’t find it. I got dressed and drove to pick him up; (his store is just a mile from our house.) In two minutes we found his car exactly where it was supposed to be. Turns out he’d mixed up the street names where he’d been walking.

It was 1:15 when I crawled back into bed. So much for my fun night out. I assumed people were exaggerating when they said the hardest part of retirement was keeping your spouse from driving you crazy, but you just can’t make this stuff up. I hope Apple releases that “Find My Car” app soon. I’d hate to spend my next birthday in jail…