Oh, The Things That I'll Do!

Pin It Forty is the old age of youth; fifty the youth of old age.

~Victor Hugo

I don't want to tell you exactly how old I am. I’m going to invoke that most feminine of rights to obfuscate a little about my exact age. Although, I have made references over the past months to my forty-something attitude; and I have talked a great deal about my 21 year old son - that I did not have when I was a teenager…so I’ll just let you all do the math.

I bring up age today because I am thinking about retirement – my retirement to be exact. I don’t mean this in the sensible-making-plans-for-the-future kind of way, I mean it in the what-would-I-do-with-myself-if-I-could-do-whatever-I-want-to-all-day-every-day kind of way. I’ve got a lot going on right now with work and school and church and stuff. It’s a lot of stuff that takes planning and some brain-power with schedules to organize, papers to write and activities to plan. I don’t mind being busy – in fact I like it most of the time. But I know my brain is getting tired when I start making a mental list of what I want to do when I retire...25 to 30 years from now (sigh).

• I want to have garden and maybe even a greenhouse. I want to wear big floppy hats and grow flowers and vegetables that I might even enter in a county fair just ‘cause I want to win that blue ribbon.
• I want to learn how to play all the hymns in the hymnbook even the ones that have more than one sharp or flat. And maybe throw a little Beethoven in there too. Of course this will probably mean that I’ll have to practice the piano every day (which will probably be good for my arthritis). While I’m at it I’d like to learn to play the guitar.
• I want to find a “story” that I have to watch every day – as in “It’s time for my story.” I’m not sure I really want to get into soap operas – but maybe it would be a good time to catch up on Lost and try and figure out once and for all what in the “expletive” is going on in that show.
• I want to learn to paint better or at least be more prolific with my painting. I may even start to give my paintings away as gifts – which may either give great pleasure to my friends and family or make them roll their eyes behind my back and dread every birthday and holiday. To be honest I’m not sure which reaction would be more fun for me.
• I want to learn to be a great cook…maybe even verging on the word chef. I am hopeful that this process will involve the use of a great deal of butter.

That's just my preliminary list of course. That should keep me busy for first year or so right?

The reality will probably involve something to do with grandchildren too. But as Superdude just got home from the mission and, as someone commented on my last post, he’ll soon be on the hunt for a wife - so the “G” word can’t be far behind…but I’m not ready to look that reality in the face so I’m not adding it to the list...yet.

Oh yeah, and it might be nice if I was able to get my blog-post written and posted on the actual day that it’s due.