Preparation H (horrible)

"Plan for what it is difficult while it is easy, do what is great while it is small." Sun Tzu, The Art of War

I woke up in a panic this morning.  What if my hubby were to become gravely ill or suddenly pass away?  Awful thoughts at 4 am just as the sun is rising, the birds are waking on another great day of adventures to come!

Hubby handles the finances.  If you knew me, like I know me, you would not let me near the money side of the relationship.  I know where everything is related to housing the finances, the legal stuff but what about those monthly pains....bill paying?

My thought was when this happens and it will, we should have a book that chronicles what we do each month to keep our lives moving forward in the orderly fashion that it does.  There are no bill collectors, no repossessions, no robbing Peter to pay Paul.  Life is smooth through the long term and excellent planning of my financially brilliant husband.  He keeps me in "loop".  I sort of pay attention.

Well now I am at attention!!!  I suggested my thoughts to hubby; that he starts recording all the transactions he does each month (mortgage, taxes, heat, light, etc) and I will contribute records of what I do each month to keep the household running....play games on my iPad!  He made light of my suggestion.  If I should fall first, he decided that he will stock up on paper plates and then just eat over the sink!  

All kidding aside....I noticed he bought a new little book today filled with blank pages!!!

Retirement........the digilent planning never stops and gets more emotional.

Those were the days my friends...

We thought they would never end.....everyone sing with me! I ran into a former colleague of mine today.  Hubby and I were going to visit our favourite Vancouver city garden - Van Dusen Gardens.  There was a home renovation show going on in the Floral Hall.  I saw a commercial vehicle with the company name of the owner that was a friend and colleague while I was working at the Better Business Bureau.  I have not seen him since May 2012!

I realized very quickly after I had my beginnings into "jubiladas" (okay, retirement), most of the friendships I had while working softly ended.  I never thought they would.  Another epiphany in life...it is important to grow, care for and harvest friendships in both worlds - Work World (WW) and Play World (PW).  Those people who forgot their family and PW friends through their career may have experienced a loneliness after leaving WW.

I still have some very important friendships that have stayed with me throughout my career.  I have friends from my Rogers/Shaw Communications days (20 years of friendships), my BC Apartment Owners and Managers Association days (13 years) and my final hurrah, my Better Business Bureau days.  WW friendships take lots of hard work because they are initially based on sharing common pains and joys of building successful businesses.  Some friendships, I found out after I retired, really did not get passed the initial phase.  We did not work hard enough to find common ground in the full scope of our lives.

I was sad at first when I realized how superficial many relationships had been.  I was a conduit to something they wanted for themselves.  

It didn't last long folks!  I have a sweet life with amazing friendships and loving family surrounding me like a warm blanket.  Stay true to your good friends and love your family to bits. Cheers!

Please don't put off what you can do today, until tomorrow....advise from best friends!

My husband Dan and I have been friends with Pat, Wayne, Terry and Dave since 1969!  We have gone through our own weddings, births of our children, the trials and joys of raising children, our children's celebrations, weddings and their own births and our retirements. The six of us have traveled together, have camped together, have played together for so many years.

There were some sad and frightening times in our relationships and unbelievable joy. No matter what happens in our lives we continue to connect.   Pat and Wayne moved to Vernon very shortly after they retired.  Terry, Dave, Dan and I continue to live in Richmond.

This morning Pat reached out to us to tell us that a close and old friend of theirs from Halifax (the rest of us know him from the past) just passed away from a terrible, painful disease....bladder and liver cancer.  Pat and Wayne knew how sick he was but did not know that he would pass away so quickly. They had just spoken to yesterday and expected another few months to "keep in touch"!

Last week, this fellow told Pat and Wayne not to put off what you can do today, until tomorrow!!!  Pat and Wayne shared that message with us this morning.  Goodbye Skip!  We are glad you are at peace.  

Hello Pat, Wayne, Terry and Dave!  Aren't we lucky we still have each other to say hello to?  As Pat ended her message this morning...keep in touch!

  

It's all fun and games.......

I started a funny hobby....it came about at my daughter's place in Calgary.  Daughter Laura's little girls call me Bama, instead of a "grandmother" moniker.  Granddaughter Lily is 8 years old and Esme is 4 years old, soon to be 5.

Laura, Lily, Esme and I were romping through fields of canola somewhere in Alberta - of course, Bamaflague had to be born!  The word was invented by my daughter who is the inventor of all things silly and willy!!  Participating in Bamaflague is voluntary but I must be present!  In this picture we have Lily and Laura who couldn't resist jumping in!

Then we took it to a whole other season, again somewhere in Alberta.  You will notice no one else is participating.  I did feel a little lonely but still quite enjoyed the game.  You will note that I blend in beautifully - even my hair.  You can see in the second picture, Laura and granddaughter Esme obviously did not follow the rules....there is no Bama in Bamaflague!  

Well folks, the game is back on!  We have a "Bama" in the game.  We have some interesting masks and Laura is following the rules of the game!  Yes, you can see our faces but because of the masks you probably are not sure who is who! Well done!

Back on home ground, Bamaflague was well played in a field of Yarrow and other wild flowers.  Some bees participated but that was about it.  I still enjoyed the game!

Twin sister Karen got caught up in the frivolity but apparently wasn't listening closely to the rules..we can see her face!

It's all fun and games, especially when you are surrounded by friends and family AND you are retired!

Breaking News..65 Year Old Grandmother Does Something Amazing!

I was woken up around 4 am this morning due to an aching shoulder from playing iPad games too much the night before (that is a whole other story in itself).  I started thinking about turning 65 next year.

Then to my mind, loud and clear, came news broadcasts describing events that may have happened to someone like me, a woman in her mid sixties.  When you hear on the radio or television, "65 year grandmother wins the lottery", what do immediately think?

I think of some doddering old lady, bent over, walking with a cane who does not have long to live!  Whaaat?  That's me next year!!!!

So I looked up "senior citizen" in Wikipedia.  "Senior citizen" in Wiki language is described as an elderly person and implies that the person is retired.  It goes on to say that the person is over the retirement age of their country....65 in Canada.  It is when I will start collecting Old Age Security Pension!

I vote we change the word to "jubiladas" (spanish for "new beginnings, joyful jubilation). Actually in Central America, it is a verb reflexive meaning "to play truant" or "to gain experience" (Caribbean meaning).  Anything but "elderly", "senior citizen"....please!

So cheers to my fellow jubiladas/jubilados (girls and boys).  We are having the best time in our lives!

At the beginning there was light!

I don't know why I did not want to write anything in my blog for two years after I retired. I guess I was so busy accumulating my experiences and figuring out what made me feel happy and what didn't, I did not feel ready to write.

So looking backwards........to the beginning of play world (PW). I had some strong convictions of what I would NEVER give up after I left the work world.  One was my smart phone.  Number two was my car, Molly Matrix.  I associated these two possessions with independence.

After a couple of months into PW....I found out that I love being a passenger, love, love, love it! Hubby and I found out we really love road trips.  Climbing into his truck and heading on an adventure rocks our boat. We have grown our friendship immensely in these past two years.  We really enjoy each other's company.

And.....I never got any phone calls on my cell phone after leaving WW(work world).   So we are down to one cell phone and have not had an inkling that we might be missing out on something.  Of course, I am still attached at the hip to technology with my beloved iPad following everywhere I go so I have not completely "gone off the grid"!

Stress.....it is a foreign word to me now.  Imagine your day starting out by rising when it is your 'natural wake up time', grabbing a cup of coffee and snuggling down on your favourite couch to read the newspaper front to back.  (I am very mindful of what catches my attention...what I like to read about.  I expand that information into further interests I could explore.)  Then I hit 'play' on the iPod to be lifted away on powerful alternative music while performing my hour of exercise.  I am mindful of every movement my body makes and how it feels while stretching and crunching and pushing.  My breathing is deep and cleansing.

Welcome to PW.  It is a gift that only years of hard work raising a family and developing a career can be fully appreciated when it arrives.

The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin...as it applies to retirement!

Ah well, it has almost been two years since I left the workforce to take on this new adventure called 'retirement'.  I have not felt like writing about my journeys these past couple of years.  

I am reading a book (that was given to me as a gift for retirement) called The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  As I felt extremely happy retiring, I did not feel inspired to read this book.  Not to worry, I am still extremely happy but the book caught my eye.

The author is also a happy person but she does not feel that she is appreciating all that life has to offer her.  She decides to take on a project with varying tasks and focuses each month of the year.  There are several sections that really have awakened my spirit.  One in particular was the month of May.  The author talks about getting serious about playing.  She describes a technique on how to find out what you really like to do, what really gets your tail wagging, is to think back when you were about 10 years old.  What were you playing?

Well, lordy be, at 10 years old, I was planting grass and flowers in forests to add beauty to the land around me!!!  That was one of my favourite things to do as a child.  I would have a team of kids following me around figuring out where to do our next bit of guerrilla gardening.

Guess what retirement has meant for me?  Guerrilla gardening!!  I find such sense of joy and peace and serenity changing drab environments into brilliant colours of the rainbow.  I feel such a sense of getting to know my neighbours and my community when digging in a garden.  This is a picture of a portion of a 6 acre City of Richmond park where hubby and I volunteer.  We have 3 large garden beds we take care of with love and pride!  Man, did I ever land right where I was supposed to land!  Think back to what you loved to play at when you were 10 years old!  Can you "play" again?