tee125 adventures, autobiography, retiree

The Main Event

Photo by Ibrahim Asad on Pexels.com


I decided to throw my mother an 80th birthday celebration at an exclusive venue in the spring of 2018. It was indeed a labor of love and the icing on the cake, pun intended, was I could integrate all of my talents and creativity into planning the event. The site was available on her actual birth date, so everything was just coming together perfectly. I designed and printed the invitations on card stock paper and mailed them all way in advance to be sure each guest had an extra long time to RSVP. I ordered some of the favors in advance and created the rest on my own. The color scheme for everything was a bright pink and white. I also designed and printed the programs for the event. All of my creative juices were flowing. I secretly downloaded a music track in order to rehearse my surprise singing performance, too. My son and I rehearsed a dance to My Girl by the Temptations religiously every day. I could imagine him saying, ” I don’t know what I’ll do if I hear mom sing The Best Thing That Ever Happened by Gladys Knight one more time.”

I also created a video montage set to music to be played during her birthday celebration. The video contained pictures of my mom throughout her lifetime. It also included pictures of her with my dad who passed away some years ago, and other pictures with my siblings, the grandchildren, other family members, myself, and close friends. I spent days selecting these pictures and I spent days deciding which music would play in the background of the video. Everything had to be just perfect for my mom. Could I really pull this off? What do you think? Were there any bumps in the road?

tee125 adventures, autobiography, retiree

Year One

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During my first year of retirement, I was carefree and unstressed. I’d awaken an hour later than I had when I was working. I’d shower and make breakfast for my preteen and myself. In the past, I’d almost never have any time left to eat breakfast myself. Now I could enjoy the first meal of the day with my child and even have time to have an actual conversation during the meal. Upon retiring the added chore of making my child’s lunch in the morning was even enjoyable. I’d call out, “What would you like to have for lunch today?” I was like the waitress eagerly awaiting an order from my customer who could choose any item from a myriad of dishes listed on my menu and I was also the chef who was confident I could produce any dish upon request. Then came the ten-minute commute to my child’s school. This was a breeze!

After school drop-off, I had about six hours all to myself. There were days when I’d go back home, lounge on the sofa reading a book or I’d sit there watching a movie on Netflix knowing I’d finally be able to complete those leisurely activities. Sometimes I’d just drive 25 minutes away to another borough to meet up with my sister and window shop, chat, and have lunch afterward. Then I’d drive back, pick up my child and proceed to go home. I know you think I was living the life of Riely, right? Or was I?

  1. Janice Reid's avatar
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  4. Unknown's avatar

    Yes indeed! We have to successfully navigate those “Bumps In The Road.” They are merely distractions to keep us from…

  5. skygirl65's avatar

    I absolutely love birds! This experience you squared made me feel as if I was there! I can see that…

tee125 adventures, autobiography, retiree

So You’ve Retired! Now What?!

In the winter of 2017, I retired from teaching. Though teaching had been my passion and bread and butter for most of my adult life, I chose early retirement in order to better manage my family life and to decrease the amount of stress in my life caused by a very taxing and time-consuming job. It was the best decision I’d made in a very long time. All I could think about was how much free time I’d have. The time constraints I once had would drop like shackles from the feet of a newly freed slave and finally, my time would truly be my own. No time clock to punch in on if I were late anymore. No boss to call and say, “Sorry, but I won’t be able to come to work today because I’m feeling a bit under the weather.”, to either. My life was just beginning again, or so I thought.

  1. Janice Reid's avatar
  2. skygirl65's avatar
  3. skygirl65's avatar
  4. Unknown's avatar

    Yes indeed! We have to successfully navigate those “Bumps In The Road.” They are merely distractions to keep us from…

  5. skygirl65's avatar

    I absolutely love birds! This experience you squared made me feel as if I was there! I can see that…