Retired?
retire: verb
- leave one's job and cease to work, typically upon reaching the normal age for leaving employment. synonyms: give up work, stop working, pack it in, call it quits
- withdraw to or from a particular place. synonyms: go away, take oneself off, shut oneself away
I don't quite know what to say when someone asks me if I am enjoying retirement. Apparently, my retirement is not at all conventional. After all, how many other retirees still have children at home? I don't have time to travel or catch up on my reading. I really don't have time to retire from life!
My so-called retirement didn't really start until school began, when the kids went back to school without me. Even though I'm not teaching this year, I seem to be just as busy as ever. I still get up before 6:30 to get the kids off to school. I walk part way to school with Levi on the days I don't have to drive Victoria across town to college.
When I am home, I am still trying to catch up with several projects that never seemed to get done when I was working full time. Inside, I need to reorganize the files and clean the basement. Outside, I need to paint two light posts and make mulch out of the pile of sticks that has accumulated this summer. And, a good part of my new job description is that of taxi driver. Every day, I take the kids to and from school, band, piano lessons, therapies, and wherever else they need to go. I need to knuckle down and teach Victoria to drive, so I can stop being her personal chauffeur!
I've been writing songs, three since school started. I've finished the outline for a book I plan to write. I have some time, occasionally, to babysit for Tobin and Evelyn. I'm staying up later than I like so I can help Victoria with college homework.
Giving up my job means that I have more time and energy to give the kids the attention they need, especially at the end of the day. I still get tired, but I can take time for a nap during the day, if I really need one.
My so-called retirement didn't really start until school began, when the kids went back to school without me. Even though I'm not teaching this year, I seem to be just as busy as ever. I still get up before 6:30 to get the kids off to school. I walk part way to school with Levi on the days I don't have to drive Victoria across town to college.
When I am home, I am still trying to catch up with several projects that never seemed to get done when I was working full time. Inside, I need to reorganize the files and clean the basement. Outside, I need to paint two light posts and make mulch out of the pile of sticks that has accumulated this summer. And, a good part of my new job description is that of taxi driver. Every day, I take the kids to and from school, band, piano lessons, therapies, and wherever else they need to go. I need to knuckle down and teach Victoria to drive, so I can stop being her personal chauffeur!
I've been writing songs, three since school started. I've finished the outline for a book I plan to write. I have some time, occasionally, to babysit for Tobin and Evelyn. I'm staying up later than I like so I can help Victoria with college homework.
Giving up my job means that I have more time and energy to give the kids the attention they need, especially at the end of the day. I still get tired, but I can take time for a nap during the day, if I really need one.
I learned long ago that the prefix, re, means again. With that in mind, I've come up with a couple of different definitions for the word, retire.
retire: verb
- become tired again, perhaps for different reasons than before. synonym: exhaust
- put new or different tires on a vehicle again. synonym: retread
You know what a retread is, don't you? It's an old tire that is refurbished with new treads to make it usable again. In a way, I'm kind of like a retread. I may be doing some different things now, but God has equipped me with everything I need to keep rolling along each day, going where he leads me, doing what I need to do, for as long as I need to do it.
Comments
Post a Comment