Retire In Style Blog Too

I belong to a group of women on Facebook...interesting midlife women...authors, influencers, lifelong learners, mothers, grandmothers... Everything from an author of teen books to wonderful fashionistas grace that group...2.0K strong. But more than that, the group has come to epitomize the online friendship that has meaning. Many of those woman have been in my online life since those day when I wrote to a "prompt" on Friday or Sundays. I loved those day because they were the ones that built the ability to get words down on the page in some order. We wrote thoughts on things that we were not necessarily passionate about but that, at the moment, were inspiring. We all know that the need to write comes from somewhere inside much like our appetite. We don't know what we are hungry for. We just know we are hungry. Yes, it is just like that. So on that connection with midlife women there is a woman that keeps us on track even though it may be weeks between times that we visit. ...

I read as a part of the healing process. It is not a burden. Those periods of time when I am under the weather, I read books that are memorable and wonderful. It is a a good memory...I don't remember the pain. Just the words. Today a book of poetry by Mary Oliver was purchased. Dog Songs was the one I chose. It turns out I love dogs a lot. I don't own one but I have a lot of "dog" friends. They are perfect, barking and alive. It is a comfort for me somehow. The quote I saw today on Facebook was from Swan: Poems and Prose Poem.   Beacon Press. It went like this: finally i saw that worrying had come to nothing. and gave it up. and took my old body and went out into the morning and sang. -mary oliver   Such a few words but such a beautiful thought. That is where we come to when we live inside an old body.   So now I have to confess that I have a pain (not am a pain which is different). I went to see a doctor, made an appointment for an ultrasound so I feel better today....

Texas Mexico Spain Arizona Park Model Shanghai China My husband and I have been retired for 24 year...I know, how did that happen. For the last 16 years I have been writing about our life. All of those posts have been about travel, books, family and retirement. The first three are what we do. The last, RETIREMENT, is about our lifestyle. I have been selling "Retiring in Style", you know, living well no matter what you have or where you live. If you haven't bought in to the concept, you really should. Life is good. Have things changed a lot? In 24 years? You can bet your life it has. In past posts I have written about stages of retirement and all that involves. From the first day my husband and I have been working through it. Thankfully, change is in our DNA. It has been said that retirement is the third act of life and, if you desire, you can choose to find a new career or learn new things. That is so true but  it isn't the big picture, the one that shows the patterns...