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Why Mari Enjoys Retirement

Every once in a wonderful while
I hear Mari say, "I love being retired!"

Almost always,
she has a sewing project in hand
when she says it.


Announcing 
how much she loves
being retired,
earlier today,
she suggested we have lunch
at Teresa's.


I heard myself say, 
"I love lunch at Teresa's!"


Settled in, a Negra Modelo in hand
and our favorite waitress having assured us
that whatever it was we ordered was coming soon,
I had time to listen to our table neighbors.

"They," I thought, "are not going to enjoy being retired."

In fact, they were not enjoying much of anything.
They were complainers; quiet but concerted complainers
reinforcing their view of life by trying to one-up
(or one-down) each other by demonstrating how perceptive they were
at detecting small faults with everybody they worked with.

What a miserable way to wriggle through work, toward retirement!
Neither one of them, I thought, has a sewing machine.
I'd have wagered that they really believed that, once retired,
they'd improve their golf games, and blame double-bogeys on their clubs.

Earlier this morning, I lurched to our breakfast table to tell Mari
of a story I heard half a century ago, when we were closer to Moby Dick,
and to my Dad's stories about having grown up (almost)
rowing a boat outside the island where he grew up to catch cod.

Such veteran of a life at sea in a rowboat,
when asked what he was going to do when he quit rowing,
said he was going to heave the oars onto his shoulder and start walking inland.
When someone asked him, "What are those?",
he said he was going to stop walking and live there.

People with good jobs do not necessarily have good retirements,
nor is having a bad job necessary to have a good retirement.
I will wager those two guys from the local Junior College
will manage to join an unsatisfactory work life to a disappointing retirement.

The secret, if it is a secret,
has something to do with what those two guys were not doing:
attitude is everything.  They had negative mind-sets.
Inquisitive people find questions everywhere.
Creative people continue to see possibilities.
Caring people continue to care, and sew outfits for grand-daughters.

The fact is that, when a person retires,
the retiree is still the same person.
Employed complainers just become retired complainers.
Unimaginative employees become unimaginative retirees.
Good natured people remain good natured.
Interesting people remain interesting.

I think that is why Mari is enjoying retirement.

That is really depressing, isn't it?

Comments

  1. Susan AtheyJune 24, 2016 at 1:26 PM

    Great points. I'll remember them as I retire in about 6 months and 6 days.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Conrad RøyksundJune 27, 2016 at 9:51 AM

    I have no worries about you in about 6 months and 3 days! You will enter it running full speed!

    ReplyDelete

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