Vacation Day!

Workers that world around know the excitement of the "vacation day!"  

Having been retired for over five years, many people still working have told me, "You're on vacation every day now."  Well, technically yes, but figuratively no.  There are things to do and places to go.... doctor appointments, church commitments, lunch with friends, grocery shopping, etc.  It seems like our calendar has at least one commitment every day.  

The other night I looked at my calendar and saw that there nothing planned for the next day.  [Side note, I have to look at my calendar as I don't have a work schedule to remind of which day of the week it is.  I know, such a tough life.]  My first thought on seeing the empty day on the calendar was "vacation day."  Where did that thought come from?  I wonder, is that really what retirees call their nothing-planned days now?  I doubt it.  What is a good term for retirees to use? 

Regardless, the feeling was good!  There may or will come a time in my life when I have many empty days on my calendar.  Until then, I will excited by my "vacation days," retired or not!

Sleep and Silence

In the months prior to my retirement, I often wondered what these days would be like.  I did imagine getting more sleep, which has been blissfully wonderful.  Did I say I LIKE it?!?  I am what statisticians call a "mid-morning person."  I don't like early morning but by 10 am, it's my prime productivity time until about 2 pm.  After 2, I would fight sleep and I was usually ready for sleep by 10 pm. 

Now, that I don't have to have the alarm set every day, it's blissful to sleep until my body says "wake up."  Most days that has been after 8 or 8:30 am ....times in the past that I would have to be at work! 

At night I have found that I am staying up later to read or watch a movie.  It feels great to have that option.  Last night I accompanied my hubby on a courier run to a town about 2.5 hours or so from here.  I even did half the driving.  Since I did have an appointment today at 10 am, I thought I had better set the alarm for 9 am as a precaution since we got home a little after 2 am this morning.  I forgot how to set my alarm clock!  Hubby and I got a chuckle out of that one.

One of the things I imagined about retirement was having the radio or CD's playing all day with my favorite music.  I have not!  I am not sure why not, but I am enjoying the silence in the house.  No phones ringing, no overhead public address announcements, no kids crying in the lobby outside my office. This, too, has been blissful. 

I find it ironic, some of things I am discovering about retirement and about myself.  I am sure there are more discoveries....after all I've only been retired for 8 work days!  The other days were vacation. 

Speaking of vacations, my friends are already asking me, "when and where to is your next trip?"  Just saw a bargain on a two-nights stay in New Orleans.  Hmmm? 

Vacation

Vacation: A period of time devoted to pleasure, rest or relaxation;
especially, such a period during which a working person is exempt from work but collects his pay.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) I'm leaving work early and we start our drive to Wisconsin. We should get north of San Antonio before we rest tomorrow night. Yes, if a person looks at map and finds San Antonio in southern Texas, we're four driving hours below that! Getting through Texas is almost half of our driving time to get Up North.

Thursday is the official start of vacation and nine work days off plus four weekend days. I haven't had that much time off since I moved here almost three years ago and did not have a job. Looking forward to time to relax and rejuvenate. Yea!