Happy Valentines Day

February 14, 2008

There I said it. Happy VD. For all of you out there who are not cynical, jaded or weary of commercial holidays, hope you do enjoy this one.

Good thing I don' t have a job. I have less and less time for one. That actually isn't true but I feel like my dance card is filling up with lots of "things". What's nice about it is that they are all "things" that I am choosing to do.

There is quite a head game that goes on when a person starts to think about retiring. For some it is the last big event, the major life change to look forward to besides dying. Sounds pretty blunt but it is right out there. You understand that you will most likely be immediately replaced in your position and very soon forgotten. That is a little depressing but it simply is the way this whole life thing works. We are all temporary and will all move on at some point. That makes the time here so much more meaningful and it definitely enables you to separate the important things from the things that just don't really matter. Then the idea that you are no longer "contributing" comes into play. True, you are no longer contributing to what was your job but there are so many ways to contribute. So many ways. And if that is a need that you have, you just go out there and find a way to fill that need.

The upside of retirement is that your life is definitely your own. I have been fortunate to have an excellent career and an excellent retirement plan. More important than all of that is the fact that I am healthy. That is paramount. It is a lot of maintainence and paying attention but if you start these habits when you are young you are so far ahead of the game. When I was young smoking was very cool. No one every heard anything about cancer and smoking. Heart disease and smoking. Nothing. And lots of red meat. Fast food started to become popular when I was a teenager and was overwhelming during my 20s and 30s. Finally, we woke up and put the brakes on and realized, this is not all good. Fortunately, for my kids' generation, it is a choice. They know so much more than we did and now it is a matter of choice for them.

I don't know what has triggered all this but I think it is because I am finding myself starting a couple new things that promise to be kind of fun.

Almost by accident I have become a forum moderator for a reader's forum on a gardeners' website. I have followed this website for years and Doug Greene has added this forum to his site. Right now he is breaking in the moderators and it will be a couple of weeks before the forum goes live but he is doing a lot of work on it now and he is involving us in some of the decisions. Our job is really to make sure it stays fun, no one is abusive, commercial products, etc. don't sneak in. His job is to answer the questions.

I also have told the City Island Theater Group that I would be very interested in being on two of their committees. One is the by-laws committee. They are in dire need of a makeover as became abundantly clear with some challenging events over the past few months. I think we will all learn quite a bit from it as there are actually state laws that govern volunteer groups like this and what they are allowed to do or not do legally. I have also offered to be a part of a "reading committee" whose purpose is to read plays and recommend them to the board (or not) for production.

It will be spring soon and the garden will be calling. April 4 or something like that is Opening Day at Yankee Stadium.The sweater had to be ripped partially out last night, back to the collar. Wish I would have taken a picture of it for you so you could see the mistake but I didn't. The books are piling up again. The photography class is going great. The Orchid Show is opening at the Botanical Gardens in a week.

The best news of all? I am actually going to have a cleaning person come every other week starting next Tuesday morning. I hate to clean. Have been doing it for far too many years. Just want someone to wash the floors, dust, clean the bathrooms. That's all. Maria is as cute as a button so let's hope this works well. It is a birthday gift to myself.

So, life is good. It is nice to have time to make choices and enjoy what I want to do.