A decade is behind us. A decade is before us. When thinking about tonight's post, I thought about the past ten years.
One of the most significant things that happened ten years ago was that I retired from AT&T after 33 years of service.
One day I was commuting an hour each way to my job. Working eight to ten hours under a blanket of stress. The next day after retirement, I slept in. Actually, I didn't sleep. I woke up at my normal time, but as I lay there with my head on the pillow, I let it sink in that my life had changed. From this day forward, I was the boss of my life.
So the decade that started (actually it started in March) was one about doing things we'd put off for years. I fished, Jilda and I played music, we traveled, we volunteered, and we had fun. We laughed a lot.
The years were not without casualties. We lost family, pets (who were family), and friends. We cried a lot.
But that's part of life. If you hang around enough, stuff happens. You either whine about it, or you suck it up and deal.
It's the people who find ways to get through the low tide that I admire. There was a song back in the 70s that said something like:
Funny how life is like a wheel
First your down
Then your up again.
I hope the 20s find you Up again.
One of the most significant things that happened ten years ago was that I retired from AT&T after 33 years of service.
One day I was commuting an hour each way to my job. Working eight to ten hours under a blanket of stress. The next day after retirement, I slept in. Actually, I didn't sleep. I woke up at my normal time, but as I lay there with my head on the pillow, I let it sink in that my life had changed. From this day forward, I was the boss of my life.
So the decade that started (actually it started in March) was one about doing things we'd put off for years. I fished, Jilda and I played music, we traveled, we volunteered, and we had fun. We laughed a lot.
The years were not without casualties. We lost family, pets (who were family), and friends. We cried a lot.
But that's part of life. If you hang around enough, stuff happens. You either whine about it, or you suck it up and deal.
It's the people who find ways to get through the low tide that I admire. There was a song back in the 70s that said something like:
Funny how life is like a wheel
First your down
Then your up again.
I hope the 20s find you Up again.
Resilience is a sadly underrated skill isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI hope that you and Jilda spend much more time on the 'up side'.
Thanks for the time travel, it was interesting. I like how you expressed the 'morning after', NICE and so true. Some people never learn to fill that void of 8-12 hours of time that was work, I did and glad you did also. I believe you did a better job of it. BUT if I coulda played with 'them strings' I coulda done better. LOL
ReplyDeleteThe best to you on the wheel of life.
Sherry & jack
It was,overall a good decade for me too. Here is to at least one more good decade.
ReplyDelete"I was the boss of my life" - I like that.
ReplyDeleteWell, if we wish to be part of the human society, we usually have to give up part of the control on our life (army, work, marriage).