7 Months and Counting - Surprises!

Wow, 7 months of retirement have just flown by. There have been a few surprise realizations because honestly, I was thinking about not working for so long but I wasn't really sure what to expect. Here's a few that I've come to realize. 

#1 - I don't miss the day to day of going to the shop. I know that sounds terrible as if I hated going to the flower shop but I think it's more that I was really prepared for "not" going to the flower shop. I knew it was coming. I was mentally ready, which I would imagine would make a difference if you lost your job and were forced out. I was looking forward to it and lastly, I felt happy with the way the business ended up. I think if I had sold it, it would still be on my mind with thoughts like, "are they treating the customers right", "do people still think I'm responsible when I'm not", that sort of thing. I think because it was a planned to be no later than July, 2022 and that the business simply liquidated, it was all very neat and precise so there is no baggage. I asked Kevin what he thought surprised him the most and he says that he's surprised how much he's enjoying being retired. On that we can agree!! 

#2 - I love sleeping late!! I always made fun of my retired friends and family for staying in bed until 9 am. I would have sworn that there would be no way I could sleep past 7 but I do and I do it often! As a matter of fact, when we have to set an alarm, I'm really annoyed about it. By the way, my kitty likes that I sleep late too!! 

#3 - I love staying up late!! Gosh, this reminds me of when I was in High School. I rarely went to sleep before midnight and when Kevin and I were working at the movie theater, our date night rarely before until 10 or 11 pm. We don't stay up late that often but it's rare for us to be in bed before 11 and we often head on up around midnight or even 1 am! 

#4 - I love being at the house, just puttering around. When I was younger, I used to get depressed if I didn't have some kind of activity so I was not exactly sure how I would be on those days when I never left the house.  I admit that the days where we are home for the day is rare though. There's been so many places to go and people to see. We've taken quite a few overnight trips, been eating out, see friends, taking walks, going to the movies and going to our little office to poke around the internet and listening to music. But those days when I am home for the day, I'm relieved and enjoy doing little things around the house like reorganizing closets, doing extra cleaning, doing small loads of laundry (instead of 2 weeks worth that takes all day), reading books and just relaxing. I was expecting to get snowed in a few times but sadly, that hasn't happened. lol 

#5 - We don't watch that much TV.  I'm happy to report that we still watch our favorite shows (which we tape to jump past commercials) and we might have the Food Network, @Create or CNBC on in the background but we don't watch any more TV than we did before retiring. Let's face it, TV can be good but too much TV is not good. Kudos to us for limiting our screen time. 

I know the last time I posted we had just come back exhausted from Disney. During Valentine's Day we spent 3 nights in Hershey at the beautiful Hershey Hotel and had lots of fun doing everything related to chocolate. Last week we spent 2 nights in Atlantic City, spent a day at their indoor pool swimming and even came back $700 richer. This past weekend we went on a ghost hunt with NJ Paranormal and investigated inside a mineral mine.  

Sunday we are leaving for 7 days in Florida again. This time for R&R. We'll be visiting with Kevin's Aunt and Uncle in Tampa and then spending a few days in Siesta Key. We even have a trip planned to the Western Rim of the Grand Canyon for September but honestly, we know these trips will slow down. We're just making up lost traveling time (mainly because of the pandemic) and enjoying it. 

That's it for now! Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!