Retirement

What is retirement?  Wikipedia says, “Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely.  A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours.  Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when physical conditions don't allow the person to work any more (by illness or accident) or as a result of legislation concerning their position…..”

Now that just doesn’t fit my erroneous ideas of retirement!  Does it fit yours?  Isn’t retirement supposed to be a time of happy celebration, fishing on the bank under the shade tree, hammocks, Ice tea or lemon aide, birds chirping in the trees, etc?  I want to do what ever I want to do and I want everybody to cooperate with everything I want to do.  I don’t want to pay anymore bills.  I don’t want to receive anymore aggravating telephone sales pitches nor do I want my mailbox to be cluttered up with a lot of useless paper sales pitches that I have to put in the trash and then have take out the trash!  Just give me a life of ease and let me close my eyes and float off into the wild blue yonder! 

HaHa, HaHa, HaHa, Ha!!!  WOW!  Let me pull my mind back together and get real.  Look at Wikipedia’s definition again – “…the point where a person stops employment completely.”  If by ‘employment’ they mean ‘work’, then I am not retired. 

My wife Janis, ‘retired’ from teaching yesterday, Friday, May 25, 2012.  We are excited.  It was posted on facebook and many friends congratulated her.  My mother took Janis and I out to dinner to celebrate the event.  I thought about buying her some flowers to help celebrate, but wouldn’t you know, I didn’t ever get a ‘round-tuit’.  Sounds like something big, doesn’t it?  Well, the truth of the matter is this:  I don’t do any fishing or sleeping in the hammocks, I do not get to have my own way about very many things and I still get those aggravating phone sales calls.  Based on my experience, I’d say that Janis will not stop working.  After all, she’s a workaholic anyway. 

I do not have any intentions of taking advantage of her (as if I could) and putting her to work on fulfilling all my wishes, BUT, I’m getting a little worried.  You see, I’ve been ‘retired’ for about five years now and while she has been faithfully going off to work everyday, I’ve been a little on the lazy side, calling it ‘retirement’, but now, she will be home!  I will be giving up my laziness and taking on a new job every day.  As a matter of fact, I've got to hurry and get off this computer before she catches me playing around again. 

Yes, Janis has retired, and I am retired.  Life will be changing.  I just hope I am able to cope with all the changes.