This post is long overdue. I mean, they're all long overdue, but this one in particular. It's a Happy Retirement post to my mom!! It made me reflect on what retirement is exactly...
Retirement is all the usual things... not going to work anymore, but not making money anymore.
Retirement is doing all the things you enjoy... and also realizing that some of those things you probably don't enjoy as much as you thought.
Retirement is getting all the things done on your to do list... or not. Because just because you have time doesn't mean you actually want to.
Retirement is not needing to interact with all of those people that made you look forward to retiring in the first place... but also missing the people who impacted you, or you had the chance to impact.
Mom, you worked for many years. I think back to the days of the tax office and all of your people. You met with the farmers and the wives and the small business owners and you helped them. Now people just use computer programs and sometimes a person, but charge by the hour. You talked to them and cared about them and knew their faces when you ran into them at the store. I remember running into so many people and asking how you knew them, and it was always from the tax office. But you couldn't remember their names. Except the ones that didn't have enough vowels. Or too many vowels. Those were easy to remember! And it wasn't just the clients but Jim and the other "girls" who were family. I modeled dresses for them and remember showing my outfit to them for my first date with Dave. Some faces changes through the years, but there was always some that were the same. And you always knew the ones that fit. Apart from the tax office you worked at Shopko. I know you did, but I don't remember it, and don't remember you being gone. It makes me know that my working won't kill my kids. They'll remember life, and not likely "mom was always gone." (I hope!) And every time I think that my kids are ungrateful and selfish, I think about my volleyball shoes I had to have (and got, and probably forced you to work the extra job at Shopko to get them for me!). And I think about my messy room, and my untaken care of clothes and shoes and keys and purse. And spending time pouting in the backseat while you happily chatted away with Jen in the front seat and thinking that you didn't even notice or care. Now I realize you noticed and (likely) cared, but that sometimes sanity called for feigning ignorance!
Anyway, then came your adult job. The one that was foreign to me because I was gone when you got it so I didn't know it. You talk about the people and experiences and the time, and I can't relate. Somehow you because a real person during those years and not just mom, and I don't know how that happened. You grew up so fast! And for once you were doing what you liked and enjoyed, but it was short lived. But I'm happy you got the experience in your life to do what you loved.
And then... you joined me. Such a strange thing! I'm happy we didn't work too closely together. That would've been strange, don't you think? At Direct Supply I knew your coworkers, and the good and the crazy. But really I was amazed that you had your own people. That you went to your own social events and changed your name from Chris to Christine, and once again became your own person. It's actually kind of amazing to me how much we didn't see each other during those 5 years at the same company! But also interesting that we got to see each other in "work world." I feel like I'm a different person in "work world," so I'm guessing it's an experience many people don't get to have.
So, all of that, and that was only when I knew you and what I knew of you. What I saw from my point of view. Thank you for showing me that it's ok to work... but that you shouldn't work to the detriment of everything else. That you commit to work, and you get done what needs to get done. That you can have fun at work and with coworkers. I with you the bestest best and happiest happy retirement!!
Retirement is all the usual things... not going to work anymore, but not making money anymore.
Retirement is doing all the things you enjoy... and also realizing that some of those things you probably don't enjoy as much as you thought.
Retirement is getting all the things done on your to do list... or not. Because just because you have time doesn't mean you actually want to.
Retirement is not needing to interact with all of those people that made you look forward to retiring in the first place... but also missing the people who impacted you, or you had the chance to impact.
Mom, you worked for many years. I think back to the days of the tax office and all of your people. You met with the farmers and the wives and the small business owners and you helped them. Now people just use computer programs and sometimes a person, but charge by the hour. You talked to them and cared about them and knew their faces when you ran into them at the store. I remember running into so many people and asking how you knew them, and it was always from the tax office. But you couldn't remember their names. Except the ones that didn't have enough vowels. Or too many vowels. Those were easy to remember! And it wasn't just the clients but Jim and the other "girls" who were family. I modeled dresses for them and remember showing my outfit to them for my first date with Dave. Some faces changes through the years, but there was always some that were the same. And you always knew the ones that fit. Apart from the tax office you worked at Shopko. I know you did, but I don't remember it, and don't remember you being gone. It makes me know that my working won't kill my kids. They'll remember life, and not likely "mom was always gone." (I hope!) And every time I think that my kids are ungrateful and selfish, I think about my volleyball shoes I had to have (and got, and probably forced you to work the extra job at Shopko to get them for me!). And I think about my messy room, and my untaken care of clothes and shoes and keys and purse. And spending time pouting in the backseat while you happily chatted away with Jen in the front seat and thinking that you didn't even notice or care. Now I realize you noticed and (likely) cared, but that sometimes sanity called for feigning ignorance!
Anyway, then came your adult job. The one that was foreign to me because I was gone when you got it so I didn't know it. You talk about the people and experiences and the time, and I can't relate. Somehow you because a real person during those years and not just mom, and I don't know how that happened. You grew up so fast! And for once you were doing what you liked and enjoyed, but it was short lived. But I'm happy you got the experience in your life to do what you loved.
And then... you joined me. Such a strange thing! I'm happy we didn't work too closely together. That would've been strange, don't you think? At Direct Supply I knew your coworkers, and the good and the crazy. But really I was amazed that you had your own people. That you went to your own social events and changed your name from Chris to Christine, and once again became your own person. It's actually kind of amazing to me how much we didn't see each other during those 5 years at the same company! But also interesting that we got to see each other in "work world." I feel like I'm a different person in "work world," so I'm guessing it's an experience many people don't get to have.
So, all of that, and that was only when I knew you and what I knew of you. What I saw from my point of view. Thank you for showing me that it's ok to work... but that you shouldn't work to the detriment of everything else. That you commit to work, and you get done what needs to get done. That you can have fun at work and with coworkers. I with you the bestest best and happiest happy retirement!!
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