2nd Friday Retirement Adventures: August

Retirement officially began two weeks ago, and there are both upsides (a more relaxed pace and lingering over coffee in lounge clothes and slippers on the front porch, for example) and downsides (lots of initial paperwork to replace life and dental insurance policies that don’t continue forward, for example) to this new chapter. At the beginning of my first week off, I used a green spiral notebook like the one in the image above to make a list of all the things I wanted to do — something enjoyable each week, blending in some new hobbies and routines as well.

Here are some things I’ve enjoyed in my first official two weeks of retirement, as teachers and students have returned to school:

1. Mahjong – I went for lessons with a former teammate who is also a new retiree! We are learning together how to play the game with tiles. Unfortunately, we have also discovered the highly addictive http://www.mahjong4friends.com, an online game that has us both staying up late at night.

2. Rag Quilting – I created a rag quilt for my newest grandson, who shares my birthday. We drove down to coastal South Carolina to make the delivery and see our son, daughter-in-law, and our grandchildren who live there.

3. Morning Walking and 4. Yoga – I’ve started walking a mile each morning on the treadmill and dabbled in floor yoga and chair yoga. I seem to do much better with the chair yoga, at least while I build some stamina. Yoga looks simple and easy. It isn’t.

5. Friends of the Library Book Fair – My sister in law and I drove to Columbus, an hour away, to check out the sale. We each came away with just under ten books and spent about ten dollars. Not that either one of us needed another book. But I am in the process of reorganizing my TBR pile and increasing my reading time.

6. Local Bookstore Book Club and 7. Summer Reading Poetry Book Club – I have been in a fabulous book club with my Kindred Spirits Sisters at work, and we will continue to read and meet and enjoy book based adventures. This month’s selection is Dear Debbie by Frieda McFadden. I’ve also added a local bookstore book club (The Ferryman and His Wife by Frode Grytten) to my reading life and finished an online poetry summer book club (44 Poems on Being With Each Other by Padraig O’Tuama) hosted by a member of one of my writing groups as well.

The next couple of weeks will include two getaways in the Wayfarer, and I’ll share the adventures on those trips on the 4th Friday of August, along with a few other new endeavors. Everyone kept asking what I would do in retirement, and I’m so eager to share the ways I’m enjoying it! I have 100 things on my list…..

Retirement