Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I like the luxury of leisurely trips. Business trips were always rushed, scurrying to get to the next place, either leaving early Monday morning in order to have Sunday at home, or cutting into my weekend in order to be at the TDY location early Monday. Late night flights, early morning wake ups. Vacations were never relaxing, worrying whenever the phone rang that it was the office, and driving long days to get to and from the friend or relative, or the event, in order to not waste a day of vacation. Now I can plan three days for what used to be a 2 day drive. If I get home late, so what? If it starts raining hard or snowing, I actually stop.If I am having a good time, I can stay a little longer. I remember nightmare trips through blizzard or heavy downpour conditions in order to get to work on time. Never again. Hey, a poem takes shape. If there's snow, I won't go.
I love not having to worry about a wardrobe or a good haircut/color job, or having to dress up and style my hair and put on makeup.
And no more uncomfortable shoes! Wearing heels all day while walking miles up and down hallways, etc., in an office earned me some serious bunions. I don't even own a pair of dress shoes anymore LOL. If I can't wear sneakers where I'm going - I don't go.
It's a mystery to me why women haven't rebelled against wearing high heels all day at work. It's insanity.
Retirement makes your decision easier to implement, of course. But I still don't understand what retirement has to do with the decision itself. There must be something else at play, and I would be interested to learn what it is if you care to share it.
I am retired, and I continue to drive at night for many reasons which are completely unrelated to working for a living:
1. Sometimes friends issue invitations for evening events. In those cases the drive back home (at least) will be at night.
2. I am a subscriber to the concerts of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, which give me deep pleasure. Again, the drive back home (at least) is at night because all of these concerts take place in the evening.
3. I still enjoy seeing movies in a movie theater (call me old fashioned). Driving at night allows me more flexibility to choose the show time, as opposed to limiting myself arbitrarily to daylight hours.
So for me the increased freedom/free time granted by retirement is enhanced by the option to drive at night. It seems your decision not to drive at night must have stemmed from having some trouble or discomfort with it, as the nurse's question was seeking to find out.
I have no trouble with night driving, I just decided not to drive at night.
What maybe the difference between the two of us is our locations. If I remember correctly, you live in LA, where as I live in the country. Driving in a city with street lights is not the same as driving in the country where you can't see your hand in front of your face. In the country, all you have is the light from the headlights.
I lived in the city till I was 30, and back when the headlights of the cars had to be manually turned on people could drive in the city and forget to turn on their lights. Here in the country it's impossible to drive with out the head lights on. Deer, turkeys, and all other kinds of wild life roam the highways and fields at night and hitting a deer can be fatal if they come through the windshield. And no you may not see them till it's too late.
There is another factor, we have to go 30 miles to get to any night time entertainment. Before I retired, I had to go to work in the dark and then come home in the dark, It's just nice to drive in the day time.
We are 8.5 months away from enjoying our retirement. I'm taking notes you all.... :-). We are so looking forward to taking a trip without planning it shorter than we would like to to "get back to work", I want to stay up later, take a long walk or bike ride in the morning, putter around, read in the afternoon and fall asleep. I know we will be busy, but it will be a different busy...... It's time for a change, but who's counting..... Lol. 8.5 months.
To elliotgb,
Funniest list ever. I laughed my retired body off the couch. You must be a professional writer, or should be. Thanks for the humor.
In my retirement, semi, I flip properties, something I've wanted to do my whole life, but now cannot imagine why with all the work and dealings with the builder class. They remind me of the wild west's horse traders - not to be trusted. I also wrote 2 books, 4 screenplays and a handful of articles. I may or may not, after 11 homes, flip any more. Is that retirement?
I believe Curmudgeon was referring to something different when he wrote that he worked in a "political environment". He worked as a legislative analyst and lobbyist and his turf was the California State Legislature.
Quite true but I lobbied for the state, not private industry.
Location: cedar grove,looking for pottery studio in Badin
4 posts, read 3,233 times
Reputation: 35
No Hurry.......at a stop light this weekend, I still have an impatient mentality. Talking out lous to the red light to hurry up and change my 3 year old granddaughter speaks up,"Nanna,we are NOT in a hurry today". sometimes it takes a beautiful lil princess to remember the best things in life.
TIME is all we are given, when we come into this world. Some of us get more, some get less. I once had a grandchild who had been given just 2 days; after that, he checked out. Hope I catch him again someday.
From the day that we start school, others begin to systematically take our TIME away from us. First it is school, then it expands to sports and after-school activities, and onto work, and even overtime. We get to the point where, we have no TIME of our own. It has been taken from us.
Retirement is a rare life episode where TIME is suddenly given back to us, if only for awhile. Many retirees seem unable to deal with all that TIME. Others worry about running out of money. I always say, don't trade your remaining TIME for money. Enough of it has already been stolen from you!
The forecast called for rain all day today, so I went to town and got all the shopping done yesterday so we weren't out in the rain today getting pneumonia. I didn't HAVE to go today b/c we have options in scheduling now. Praise the Lord. I love that about being retired. Choose your day and your battle. Sleep in.
Quite true but I lobbied for the state, not private industry.
Which is why I worded it office politics/politics. I worked for a state government and know perfectly well that the political animal and office politics are a pain in the neck and really not all that different as I also worked in private industry.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
