1st Week of Retirement

Well, the magical day finally arrived, and Dennis is no longer among the workforce!  Of course, right now it all feels like a vacation, but we are starting to develop new routines.  When he got home from his last day of work, he was ready to do something fun.  So after supper, we headed out to the state park.  We drove around looking at deer and photographing them.  Then we hiked along the trailway until almost dark.  We took it easy, not knowing how my heel would do, but it held up pretty well.  I can't walk as fast as I'm used to, or would like, but distance doesn't seem to be a big problem.

Dennis has grilled for us 3 times in the past week:  hamburgers, shrimp and fish.  He plans to wear out our old grill!  Eventually we would like to get a smoker and try our hand at that.  He has also had time to mow the yard, spray the stumps in the backyard (the shrubs that Ricky cut down for us) to try to kill them, clean out the hall closet of all of his postal uniforms and then build shelves for storage in said closet.  Things should really start shaping up around here!

Last Thursday evening, the postal employees treated us to a retirement dinner at The Mesquite Pit.  Dennis enjoyed saying his good-byes to all of his fellow workers.  His supervisor surprised him with some framed photographs of Dennis on the job.  And there was cake (one that I didn't have to make)!  Sheila and I mostly just sat there and smiled at all of the well-wishers...and enjoyed our wonderful dinner.

It has been nice not having to set an alarm.  I happened to have CASA obligations every morning last week, so I did set my alarm as backup but awoke before it went off.  Even if I'm getting up close to the same time, it is so refreshing to do so naturally rather than with the shrilling sound of an alarm!

We were discussing our plans last night after services, about how we want to spend our time now.  We hope to do a LOT more visiting and entertaining, plus have a special night, once a week, for us as a couple.  When something catches our fancy (such as wanting to see the spring wildflowers), we hope to take short trips to enjoy it.  (We already have too many other obligations right now for a wildflower trip this year, but maybe next year, Lord willing!)  One of the things I look forward to the most is finding more time for each other.  When we first married, we did EVERYTHING together.  As the kids came along and life got busier, we started drifting our separate ways more.  Dennis had his interests and obligations, and I had mine.  Although that is still the case (I do NOT intend to take up hunting again), we now have the time to develop more shared interests that we can enjoy together.  Dennis has been my best friend for 37 years, and I am very excited to be able to have this extra time together!