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I love this retirement life!
03-29-2021, 06:38 PM
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#1
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 807
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I love this retirement life!
We've had a few really hard years, what with dealing with the fires out here, then the last year of work, and the next year and a half of my dad's Alzheimers, then his moving to a nursing home right at the beginning of the pandemic so we couldn't even see him, his death in January, and dealing with his estate and putting the property back together.
But lately we are just working on the property - chainsawing trees and brush, weed-eating, mowing, digging holes to plant lemon trees, weed-eating, mowing, digging out post holes for a new veggie garden fence (trying to discourage the deer...the gophers are another matter!) weed-eating, mowing, digging out a 60' trench to replace a water line, weed-eating, mowing, and digging out and leveling places for stepping stones (wow, I didn't realize how much we are digging!)
And hubby is swimming three days a week...and we've taken up pickleball...and we have TIME! Time to linger over coffee and the paper in the morning...and volunteer at our local Food Bank...and read books out back on the deck in the afternoon...and time for naps...and evenings that aren't spent doing papers for work or helping dad and his wife deal with life as their health declined...we can sit with a drink in the chairs we placed under the redwood trees near the new garden area, and watch the little brown birds and the quail and the hawks and the turkeys and the deer, and feel the wind blow softly on our skin as we close our eyes and turn our faces to the setting sun like sunflowers...
This is what I've dreamed about for SO long for our retirement! We will travel later on, but we don't need to do it - we've traveled a lot already and anything else is icing on the cake. Just having the time to do the "little things" every day - that time is, for us, the joy of retirement.
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03-29-2021, 07:05 PM
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#2
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 1,016
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I'm with you. 4+ years retired. I've been busier, but I don't HAVE to do anything. Makes it all worth it. Congrats...
__________________
Well of course it is my opinion, why would I express someone else's??
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03-29-2021, 07:16 PM
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#3
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 807
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Thanks, doneat54! It's been a year and a half since we retired together (me at 64 and hubby at 74), but only since January (when dad passed) - so basically two and a half months - have we had the time to actually take a deep breath and do what we want rather than what others dictate that we must do. It's literally the only time since we were 12 years old that we haven't had a job to be responsible for, or people other than ourselves that we are responsible for taking care of.
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03-29-2021, 07:24 PM
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#4
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Southern California
Posts: 3,995
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Be careful with the pickleball. It can become highly addictive and take over your life. :-)
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03-29-2021, 08:00 PM
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#5
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 807
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Looking forward to it!
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03-29-2021, 08:59 PM
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#6
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Moderator
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 9,101
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Great sounding retirement. Happy for you. People don't realize how much the "little things" add to your life until you have a chance to actually partake in them.
__________________
Every day when I open my eyes now it feels like a Saturday - David Gray
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03-30-2021, 05:21 AM
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#7
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Tampa
Posts: 11,230
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ready
Be careful with the pickleball. It can become highly addictive and take over your life. :-)
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I think it already did with you and I.
__________________
TGIM
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03-30-2021, 05:28 AM
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#8
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 1,824
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CindyBlue
We've had a few really hard years, what with dealing with the fires out here, then the last year of work, and the next year and a half of my dad's Alzheimers, then his moving to a nursing home right at the beginning of the pandemic so we couldn't even see him, his death in January, and dealing with his estate and putting the property back together.
But lately we are just working on the property - chainsawing trees and brush, weed-eating, mowing, digging holes to plant lemon trees, weed-eating, mowing, digging out post holes for a new veggie garden fence (trying to discourage the deer...the gophers are another matter!) weed-eating, mowing, digging out a 60' trench to replace a water line, weed-eating, mowing, and digging out and leveling places for stepping stones (wow, I didn't realize how much we are digging!)
And hubby is swimming three days a week...and we've taken up pickleball...and we have TIME! Time to linger over coffee and the paper in the morning...and volunteer at our local Food Bank...and read books out back on the deck in the afternoon...and time for naps...and evenings that aren't spent doing papers for work or helping dad and his wife deal with life as their health declined...we can sit with a drink in the chairs we placed under the redwood trees near the new garden area, and watch the little brown birds and the quail and the hawks and the turkeys and the deer, and feel the wind blow softly on our skin as we close our eyes and turn our faces to the setting sun like sunflowers...
This is what I've dreamed about for SO long for our retirement! We will travel later on, but we don't need to do it - we've traveled a lot already and anything else is icing on the cake. Just having the time to do the "little things" every day - that time is, for us, the joy of retirement.
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What a great reminder of why we are all here (or should be) and how it is a great time in life to smell the roses while you can. Thank you!
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03-30-2021, 06:32 AM
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#9
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Central MS/Orange Beach, AL
Posts: 9,067
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I'm 14 years into retirement and enjoy it as much as the first year. Doesn't get old.
__________________
Retired 3/31/2007@52
Investing style: Full time wuss.
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03-30-2021, 06:53 AM
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#10
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 11,078
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CindyBlue
Thanks, doneat54! It's been a year and a half since we retired together (me at 64 and hubby at 74), but only since January (when dad passed) - so basically two and a half months - have we had the time to actually take a deep breath and do what we want rather than what others dictate that we must do. It's literally the only time since we were 12 years old that we haven't had a job to be responsible for, or people other than ourselves that we are responsible for taking care of.
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+1
I've said retirement is like that perfect summer before you ever worked only it's better because you have money to do the things you want.
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03-30-2021, 07:15 AM
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#11
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 363
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Sounds awesome!
__________________
Retired 3/22/2021
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03-30-2021, 07:20 AM
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#12
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 9,417
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I wish you both a great retirement and have fun.
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03-30-2021, 08:49 AM
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#13
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: West of the Mississippi
Posts: 17,171
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CindyBlue
And hubby is swimming three days a week...and we've taken up pickleball...and we have TIME! Time to linger over coffee and the paper in the morning...and volunteer at our local Food Bank...and read books out back on the deck in the afternoon...and time for naps...and evenings that aren't spent doing papers for work or helping dad and his wife deal with life as their health declined...we can sit with a drink in the chairs we placed under the redwood trees near the new garden area, and watch the little brown birds and the quail and the hawks and the turkeys and the deer, and feel the wind blow softly on our skin as we close our eyes and turn our faces to the setting sun like sunflowers...
T
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I am reminded of the PBS show "The Flame Trees of Thika" where Elsbeth, a very young girl, says she wants to be able to do nothing since her dad told her that "doing nothing is the most expensive thing a person can do".
I must be a real big spender!
__________________
Comparison is the thief of joy
The worst decisions are usually made in times of anger and impatience.
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03-30-2021, 09:32 AM
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#14
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 5,803
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You've had a rough couple of years. Sorry for the death of your father.
Enjoy your well deserved retirement.
__________________
Give a Man a fish, he will eat for a day.
Teach a Man to fish, he will eat for a lifetime.
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03-30-2021, 06:32 PM
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#15
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 807
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Thank you, everyone. I am so glad to be here in this forum!
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03-30-2021, 07:47 PM
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#16
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Huntsville, AL/Helen, GA
Posts: 6,002
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Sounds as if you've stopped work around the home place long enough to smell the roses. Just because you have work to do in retirement is no reason to work so hard at one time.
I can no longer put in a full 8 hour work day--hard labor. I'm a 1/2 day guy presently.
And I'm in the process of rebuilding our 40 year old family lake house. Wouldn't be half as much work if the house wasn't down a steep hill--requiring hauling stuff up and down the hill. That'll teach me to cut down a 12" tree.
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03-30-2021, 08:28 PM
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#17
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 807
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bamaman
Sounds as if you've stopped work around the home place long enough to smell the roses. Just because you have work to do in retirement is no reason to work so hard at one time.
I can no longer put in a full 8 hour work day--hard labor. I'm a 1/2 day guy presently.
And I'm in the process of rebuilding our 40 year old family lake house. Wouldn't be half as much work if the house wasn't down a steep hill--requiring hauling stuff up and down the hill. That'll teach me to cut down a 12" tree.
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Ooo, Bamaman...I feel your pain (sympathetic smile!)
We are frankly loving working on the property - we are finally, after about a year's work, almost at maintenance level now rather than repair mode, and it feels so good to be doing things we want to do rather than things we must do. It's good exercise, too.
I can just see you hauling stuff up and down that steep hill...time for a draft horse? or a donkey? or a tram system?
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03-31-2021, 11:44 AM
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#18
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2013
Location: ATL --> Flyover Country
Posts: 6,649
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MRG
+1
I've said retirement is like that perfect summer before you ever worked only it's better because you have money to do the things you want.
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Yep. I tell people that retirement for me is like the summers between school years when you were a kid. Very few cares in the world and you don't have to go home when the street lights come on if you don't want to!
__________________
FIRE'd in 2014 @ 40 Years Old
Professional Retiree
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03-31-2021, 09:15 PM
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#19
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 7,001
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Cindy, so glad you are retired and finally getting to enjoy your time.
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03-31-2021, 09:20 PM
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#20
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 807
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I think of you often, Teacher Terry...I hope your plans are going well!
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