{"id":53215,"date":"2021-03-22T07:34:10","date_gmt":"2021-03-22T14:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/?p=53215"},"modified":"2021-03-23T16:01:05","modified_gmt":"2021-03-23T23:01:05","slug":"its-been-fourteen-years-since-i-retired","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/?p=53215","title":{"rendered":"It’s Been Fourteen Years Since I Retired!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The best part about retirement is that you don\u2019t have to worry about getting caught for doing nothing.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sue and I walked out of work for the last time fourteen years ago today, and we enjoyed thirteen years together before her passing.\u00a0 We had fun every day; we worked hard at having fun.\u00a0\u00a0We didn\u2019t realize we were making memories. We just knew we were having fun.<\/p>\n

My life dramatically changed last year with her loss and, of course, the pandemic. In the last months of her life, I was given specific life-instructions and promised to follow her instructions.<\/p>\n

I followed my promise to Sue and was very lucky in finding a wonderful woman to share my life with, and she “brought my happy back.”\u00a0\u00a0I took a chance. You never know how absolutely perfect something could turn out to be.<\/p>\n

Mary has been a friend for many years, but I found I didn’t know her.\u00a0 These past eight months have been an amazing time to share, learn, and I found her most delightful.<\/p>\n

Fourteen years later and I have opened a new chapter in my life, and I plan to make it a wonderful experience with the help from Mary, our children, grandchildren, and our amazing collection of friends.\u00a0 I told Mary, “On a scale of one to 10, I\u2019d give you a nine\u2014and I\u2019m the one you need!”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Mary worked today, and I worked around my house just doing odds and ends with an emphasis on my “shop” and some closets. I am collecting certain things Sue had and planned to take them to Diane this summer.\u00a0 She and my nieces will probably enjoy the little treasures, including things from Sue’s dad’s life.\u00a0 \u00a0We hope that Mary and I might go and spend an afternoon with Diane and the girls with social distancing essential over Memorial Day.<\/p>\n

Scout, The Wonder Dog, came home with me as I have a great fear of elephants coming into the years, and Scout sees that they do not!\u00a0 I fed him this morning, and he is like magic!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

He makes food disappear!<\/p><\/div>\n

Chores, chores, chores, will they ever end? I needed to straighten the garage and haul off some items for the Salvation Army.\u00a0 Two hours later, it looked pretty good.<\/p>\n

I had to get on the ladder to change a lightbulb in the garage this afternoon.\u00a0You could say it was the high light of my day.<\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/a>

It looks a lot better, and Precious approves.<\/p><\/div>\n

Mary arrived, and we headed to the Himalayan Grill for dinner and dancing.\u00a0 9 Carat Gold would be practicing in the back room from 6-8, so I asked our small dance group if they wanted to join us for dinner at 5:00 PM.\u00a0 We had a great time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The gang has arrived!<\/p><\/div>\n

OK, I know, why a Hawaiian theme in an Indian restaurant?\u00a0 Well, they are on a short-term lease while their regular restaurant is being remodeled.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Loads of fun for all!<\/p><\/div>\n

We danced for two hours to the great big band music of 9 Carat Gold.\u00a0 Irene joined us tonight for fun!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Notice, we color coordinate?<\/p><\/div>\n

Irene joined us this evening! The sign was prominent after the sun had set.\u00a0 We had fifteen people with us tonight.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Goodnight Nepal!<\/p><\/div>\n

We headed for home about 8:30 PM and watched some Two And A Half Men reruns before falling asleep. Tomorrow is a big day.\u00a0 MAry gets PT at noon and becomes an Elk at 7:30 PM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The best part about retirement is that you don\u2019t have to worry about getting caught for doing nothing. Sue and I walked out of work for the last time fourteen years ago today, and we enjoyed thirteen years together before … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,24,17,4,230],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dancing","category-food-and-wine","category-friends","category-fun","category-working-around-house"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53215"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53240,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53215\/revisions\/53240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}