Update

 

 

As of this day, I've been officially retired for 6 months. 

 

Alice's Top Ten Observations About Retirement (Updated)

 

1.  All the routine household chores still need to be done, but there can be plenty of flexibility applied to "when" and "how often".

 

2.  My ironing board and iron, constant companions for the past 40 years, have retired too.

 

3.  Saying "YES!  I'd love to!"  instead of "No, sorry" often enough can contribute to an underlying sense of WILLY-NILLY.

 

4.  A certain amount of WILLY-NILLY isn't a bad thing.

 

5.  Going Off The Deep End is fun and really busy.

 

6.  Some long-standing habits don't like to go away by themselves when you retire.  You have to make a conscious effort to change them.  Food and sleep habits have been particularly challenging.

 

7.  It's fun to visit family and friends in different locations and stay as long as I like, which turns out to be about a week.  Tucson and Florida so far, with Nebraska, Iowa and Houston on the horizon.

 

8.  Though there's still not enough time, because I'm always doing things I choose to do, the urgent sense of time slipping away has disappeared. 

 

9.  I'm not sure how long it takes for violin playing to advance from "screech" to something approximating music, but it's more than 6 months.

 

10.  Believe it.  IT'S ALL DESSERT!

 

 

 

Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson