Retirement Question: What do you do all day?

I know...you need help with stuff!  I would come over and help you if I had the time.  Even though I am retired and don't have an actual "job" I am really active almost every day.  Aren't you bored out of your skull?  What do you do all day? you ask.  I guess you need to see a glimpse of what a day in retirement can be like...if you choose.

FAMILY:
Today is December 16, 2010.  Thursday in this year.  We are getting very close to Christmas and all that it means to us.  Last night my daughter and I spent 2 hours on our iphones with the Face to Face function turned on shopping on our computers for family that lives in China.  We found a Pendleton Blanket on ebay and I ordered toys on Amazon for my granddaughters and a fancy wine bottle opener for their parents.  The gifts will arrive at their house in China on December 24.   In the world of this retiree that seems very strange.  To think that China used to be so far away!

BUSINESS:
Today my husband and I have spent the morning with business. My cell phone was on speaker mode while I read documents on the computer, sent email and kept my brain alive.

PUBLIC SERVICE:
Now I will make a huge pot of white chili that we will serve to a group of homeless men at the Catholic Church.  My husband and I will join a group of our friends to eat with a group of veterans that live outside in downtown Tucson.  The men are taking classes and working with the VA to get their life back.  They are transported every day to the church.  They will eat the meal, do their own clean up and then use the facility to shower, wash clothes and sleep in a warm bed.  We are not Catholic but we were delighted to be asked to help.  I wish we did more of this sort of thing.

ORDINARY DAYS:
The ordinary time in our days are the times we love the best...that is why we retired.  We are snowbirds and spend our winters in a small RV Resort in Tucson, AZ.  I have come to think of it as living at "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends".  I don't know if you have ever seen the cartoon but the story line had children's imaginary friends coming to live in the home when the children outgrew them.   Blue Dot, clown, monster and my grandson's friend, God, always had a home until some other child needed them.

Our line up of characters include every imaginable occupation, moral standard, mental state, nation of origin and income level.  The men are veterans and many have decided not to talk about service in Viet Nam or some other overseas assignment.  Some people are nice and some are not. Everyone from the millionaires to the almost homeless widows with only their SS pension live together in peace.  We play bocce ball, pickle ball, tennis, and horse shoes outside.  We play cards, pool and dance inside.  We eat together often, argue over politics or religion and we are always learning from each other.  Books are shared, craft rooms are full and any activity on the exterior of our park models will draw a crowd and lots of advice.  No one should ever be lonely...but if they so choose, they can live in seclusion.

It is cool today and is beginning to rain (70 degrees) so we will stay indoors until this evening.  On a day when we were not leaving the park, we would gather with friends at an informal cocktail hour held on a neighbor's patio at around 4 pm.  I see our friends are playing in a bocce match so I will go visit for a minute and cheer them on.  I am reading a book on my Kindle and, of course, this blog takes quite a lot of my time.

I call this place "The Waiting Room for Heaven" a phrase my friend Carole coined.  Like the imaginary friends at Fosters, we will stay here until our family needs us or we go home for a while.  Then we will spring back into action doing child care and giving support to those we love.

I hope you have an idea of how the time flies for us.  The big question we ask ourselves over and over is when did we have time to work?


Have a wonderful day.

b

Skinny Blue Jeans and Horse Shoes!

Beautiful well used horse shoes!

June...a cowgirl dressed in vintage denim jacket and creased skinny blue jeans.

Hal and his beautiful hand crafted horse-shoe box...a gift.

When people like Hal (Harold) and June come out to play we take note. They are the heart of our winter home and have our admiration and affection. 

Hal is in his late eighties but he still plays golf several times a week.  His second hobby (if you don't count playing poker) is horse shoes.  Hal lives directly across the street from us.  He is a widower and his name along with his late wife's appears on a name plate on the front of his park model.  His lady friend doesn't seem to mind...they are very close but live in different parks.  I think he is a wonderful example for the rest of us.

June is approaching 90.  (Advanced Style.com...you have nothing on us!)  She was very ill winter before last.  She had lost control of her diabetes.  She showed us what strength and a lot of smart can do when you are ill.  She is very well now so she shops, plays bingo and attends the cocktail hour several times a week.  On top of all this...this woman knows how to dress!!  Her denim skinny blue jeans and her vintage blue jean jacket show what a very very stylish lady she is...here in Tucson AZ.  After all this is cowboy country!

I am very proud to share the lives of people that are wise and very strong...someday I want to be as well respected as they are. 

b

Cowboy Songs for the Country Music Love in Your life!

After all Christmas is coming!!!

 

Living retirement life with the neighbors...conversations about Health Care Reform!

We find a sharing kind of atmosphere here in the RV Resort. We pass things back and forth...table clothes, bedspreads, curtains, herbs, flour etc, etc, etc! We also share our past and how it has shaped our lives. That is what I would like to do for you today. The reason? It is the passing of the Health Care Reform Bill signed by President Obama this morning.

My husband and I are retired educators from the state of Oregon...one of the few states to refrain from filing a law suit against the mandate that everyone must carry insurance. Just so you will know where I stand, I rejoice in this. I am a person that does not want to be rich while others do without basic needs because they make poor choices or because they are left with no choices. They should not have a choice when it affects others and they should have a choice when they are backed into a corner because be pre-existing health problems. There you have it. I am what I am. Many disagree with me here in the park but they respect my opinions and I theirs.

As teachers in our state we were faced with the task of negotiating with insurance companies district by district...big districts because of size were given better deals by insurance companies. The huge companies like Blue Cross were willing to take from those with less and give to those with more because, just because! Just this year the state took this away from the insurance companies and began purchasing insurance for every state employee so that employees would pay less for their insurance out of pre-taxed dollars. It was a huge breakthrough for janitors, secretaries, teachers, health care employees...city and state workers at every level. The only question that went unanswered was why couldn’t small business and those that have been unemployed because of cost cutting measures have access to something that would at least give them a leg up. I have high hopes that we will now see that benefit coming to others in our state. Insurance companies will not be able to take our premiums for years and then deny coverage when we actually use the policy.

We are retired and living on a fixed income...we may pay more for our insurance in the end. It is all good...I just feel better when my neighbor is well.

During my lifetime I have seen the line in front of the hospital on the day when that endity had to write off a portions of their patients debt. Maybe hospitals will not have to pass that cost onto their other patients as each person takes responsibility for their own insurance and debt. We are feeling hopeful that in the next four years things will be better.

I share these hopes with my neighbors here in "The Waiting Room for Heaven". Ours is a diverse population where Canadians, Americans from every corner of the United States as well as Europeans share a life. We have found that, if we are going to enjoy our time together, we must be tolerant of differing views in our conversations. That is how we live.

Have a wonderful day. Spring is here, the sun will shine and our country will survive. God Bless America!

b

Breakfast in the Sun...Park Model Living

My husband and I ate breakfast in the sun this morning. While our small park model does get the morning sun through the windows, lawn chairs on that side of the house are protected from the breeze so we eat there. You really cannot imagine how quiet it is here at that time of day. The air is cool (mid 50's) but the sun is very warm.

We are located on one of the large washes here in Tucson. Pantano Wash runs for miles through the city and we are told it can be a raging torrent in the summer . Wild life is a very real part of our life and we live in peace with Road Runners, Rattle Snakes, Humming Birds, Cactus Wrens and Javalinas (Peccaries). Desert rats are a problem for vacant houses so we make sure they stay on the outside where they belong. Taking a kinder approach to those things that are dangerous or dirty is not easy for us. But we do try!

The weather is getting cooler everyday. In spite of what those that live in colder climates believe, we do dress in blue jeans or long slacks most of the winter months. There is just enough of a chill in the air and the temperature lingers in the low to mid 60 in the day light hours. As soon as the sun falls lower in the sky our desert chills returns immediately. The only people you will see in shorts are tourist or snow birds that are new to this experience. Our nod to warmer weather is the absence of coats in our closets. Light jackets are enough most of the time. If it gets too cold, we just wear everything we own!!!

We grow flowers here in the winter. My front flower bed has petunias and melon sage interspersed with agave and cactus. Most things that grow naturally here have thorns so we love plants that don't bite back. Our flowers are a great source of enjoyment for us. My husband even has a tomato plant that is blooming. The plant tried blooming when we first bought it 5 weeks ago but the Javelina's dined on it one night while we were sleeping! That plant has gone through more than is necessary to provide us with patio tomatoes!

We will eat fish at the Elk's Club tonight. It is almost expected here in Tucson that you will eat fish on Friday nights. Seniors vacated the park at supper time to head out for their favorite restaurant. I smile at the quirky things we do just because everyone else does. In Oregon we would never do the fish thing on just one night of the week. But when in Rome....

So life goes here in our RV park...The Waiting Room for Heaven! Have a lovely day and do come down to visit sometime!

b