I've been noticing that a lot of people I know are retiring. I guess it is that time of my life. People my age are retiring.
When I was a kid birthdays were the big party event. In elementary school I remember going to many of my friends birthdays. W, e would spend an inordinate amount of time discussing, planning and attending birthday parties. Having the best birthday party ever was always the plan. It never lived up to that ideal. I could never talk my parents into building a go-cart track in the back yard for the party. Sigh!
Later in Junior High we were more interested in boy & girl parties. There me and my buddies saw a darkened living room with "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" or even "American Pie" playing and hoping not to hear " Gilbert O'Sullavan "Alone Again (Naturally).
Then the big party was prom in High School. Oh we had plans....but as in most of life the expectations never live up to the reality.
We did have parties in college but the memory of them seem a little vague. Not sure why.
The we had wedding related parties. Bachelor parties, Bridal showers, Wedding showers,
Weddings and receptions. All lots of fun and very fancy.
After the wedding parties, sometimes surprisingly soon after there were baby showers. And then we are back at birthday parties. Only now we are bearing the cost and drying the tears from too much cake and fun.
So now I'm attending retirement parties. Some
go into the parties excited (like me) at the prospect of a new chapter of their life. Others with a little trepidation at entering the unknown.
I have an idea of the next set of parties in my life but am in no hurry to get there.
January 6, 2020 was my last day of work. I remember that it was rather anticlimactic. It was the day after Winter Break and a teacher work day. Everyone at work had just come back and it was a non-student day. I was there because if you work one day in a month our health insurance covers you for that month, If you have ever priced insurance a month is worth working a day. So after a number of very nice parties celebrating my retirement. (I know that is a strange concept now, getting together in large groups for any reason. ) I had a few weeks to just relax, sit back and contemplate my future. Ummm what should I do? I thought it would be sleep late and watch late night TV. No! My body had other plans . Even without the need to get up and go to work I was still waking up early and getting sleepy around 10 pm. I guess my body was having a hard time adjusting to this new life style. The nearly 40 years of work had taken it's toll. I realized I would never be able to go back to my 20...
Back at the end of December I wrote about a quest I was planning to go on after I retired. A food quest of various seafood restaurants I have heard about. I have these restaurants saved on my Yelp account Collections called " Seafood Restaurants I'm Gonna Eat At ." Some on the list I already eat at regularly. Others are new and I'm waiting to try them. Today I tried a new one. Happy's Bayou Bites located near downtown Dunedin. A small unassuming food truck converted into an outdoor restaurant. It is located just off of Skinner Boulevard at the corner of Howard Avenue. There are 4 picnic tables and just enough parking for that. Jan and I went there with her sisters and their husbands. Tom and Becky, Patty and Bill we were all celebrating Valentines day and this was a nice place to do that and have lunch. Jan had the fried catfish basket and I had the chicken and sausage gumbo. Jan said the fish was very good, light breading and flaky moist fish. She cleaned ...
For the past week or so Jan and I have been visiting her dad and sister in Evansville In. Or as Art calls it Heavinsville. We came up originally to help Mary with her house. She is painting and carpeting several rooms. Because of Covid Jan's dad Art has moved from his apartment into Mary's house. We came down to help Art while he stayed with us at a hotel and the house got recarpeted. Well that all went sideways first day at the hotel. Art who is 96 started feeling poorly and eventually it was decided to call an ambulance to transport him to the emergency room for, as my daughter calls it a little heart tune-up. It was quite an adventure having a firetruck and ambulance arrive at our hotel and all crowd into our room. At the hospital because of Covid only one other person was allowed in and it was decided that Jan would stay and I would head back to Mary's house. Now a funny story of events before the ambulance arrived. I had gone to take a rest in our hotel room whil...
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