Category: Uncategorized

Uncategorized

A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

granny18

What does this mean and why is it relevant today? A long-time churchgoer, I’ve been thinking about it a lot in recent times – especially as evangelical churches are courted by men like Donald Trump. Recently, the Canadian Conservative leader campaigned in 3 evangelical churches which leaves me feeling … uncomfortable. Although it was buyers and sellers Jesus objected to in the church (Mathew 21:12-13) I doubt He would be any happier with political campaigning in those walls. He said, “It is written, My house should be called a house of prayer…”

So what about the wolf? Matthew 7:15 details the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus is recorded as saying, ” Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” In the next verse, the sermon tells us that their true nature (their wolf teeth if you will), will be revealed by their actions (fruit). (aka their words don’t match their “fruit” – ravening wolves will be bearing the bad fruit.)

I have watched a man in the U.S. who has slipped on his outfit of wool and pulled it over the eyes of many Americans. He held up a bible, and he said his favourite book was the bible, yet could not name a single verse.

His actions from the past should have Christians shouting “WOLF!” from the rooftops and yet certain Christian groups land in his camp?

Louisiana declared that the 10 Commandments must be displayed in all classrooms. I have nothing against the 10 Commandments and indeed live my life pretty much within its borders. But many Americans are not Christian, following other faiths, or none. How do Trump and his supporters hold up? There’s a couple that seem to be at odds…

  1. You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me

    While they are not calling him a God, they are perilously close…

    2. You Shall Not Make Idols

    Exodus 32: 1-4 details a little item called a golden calf…

    Ya…guys…

    6. You Shall Not Murder

    But you sure as shootin’ can talk about it.

    And some folks seem to think Mr. Trump has given them permission for their violence.

    On January 6, 2021, the far right called for the Vice President’s hanging – and his president stated that “Mike deserves it.” Beyond, that with Mr. Trump’s encouragement, his followers stormed the capital and in 36 hours, five people died because people believed his lies. Many people were injured, including 174 police officers. Four officers committed suicide in the months that followed. Argue semantics if you like but it smells a little like the rhetoric may lead to murder.

    7. Thou Shall Not Commit Adultery

    Explain this to me evangelicals. I get forgiveness and all that. The Clintons are assuredly an example of that. But how do you forgive this man who repeats this behaviour?

    In 1977, Donald Trump married Ivana Trump. They were married until 1992. In 1990, Trump’s affair with Marla Maples came to light… He was recorded as saying he had three other girlfriends at the time.

    Nonetheless, Marla won her prize…they were married in 1993, a marriage lasting just a few years. He met his next wife while still married to Marla. His sexual assault of E.Jean Carroll took place in 1996. https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-liable-rape-e-jean-carroll-jury-verdict-2023-5

    And Trump’s name comes up in Jeffrey Epstein’s documents. We don’t know in what context but I hope someday we find out …

    Enter Melania Trump. He appeared to be sticking with this one. They have been married since 2005. We’ve heard about Stormy Daniels (porn star) during this marriage and recently another woman has come forward. So, he may have slowed down due to age and dysfunction in recent years but do you think he would if he could?

    8. Thou Shall Not Steal

    Did any of those crimes involve stealing?

    Does this count?

    Or stiffing contractors? That’s stealing isn’t it? https://www.cnn.com/2016/06/10/politics/donald-trump-unpaid-bills-reports/index.html

    Criminal tax fraud? Falsifying business records?

    https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/06/politics/trump-organization-fraud-trial-verdict/index.html: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

    9. You Shall Not Bear False Witness Against Thy Neighbour

    Where does one begin? When it comes to lying, some do it almost as frequently as they breathe. Some data compilations say over 30,000 over Trump’s term.

    He started talking about Obama not being born American, then when proven wrong, he said Hilary Clinton started the misinformation. He lies about the lies my friends. Now they are going after Kamala, born in the U.S. but to immigrant parents. Her father, who was Jamaican, taught at Stanford University and her mother, the daughter of an Indian diplomat, was a cancer researcher. She was born here. That makes her a U.S. Citizen. She’s eligible and qualified, no matter what they tell you.

    A Canadian side note here. I’ve noticed Pollievre has developed a tendency to … misdirect.. too. Fact-check everything. #VerbTheNoun

    10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

    In Trump’s case, he’s likely coveting the neighbour’s wife, his maidservant AND their asses…and apparently other body parts. He doesn’t just covet, he takes. He is on record saying, “They let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy.” (Vox.com)

    Well, his actions concerning the 10 commandments are pretty obvious. His actions relating to the U.S. Constitution should have you screaming “Wolf!” too.

    Apparently, you run your whining to your followers and encourage them to storm the capitol.

    He really likes dictators and has expressed he’d like to be one. Think of what he could get his followers to do then! And with immunity…

    How do you become a dictator? If you could go back and ask Hitler, he’d say,
    “Get elected… and then…”

    Putin, another “elected” leader … but do you remember Aleksei Navalny? A Russian opponent who was doing well then poisoned. Survived and returned only to die in prison. Is it just me or does Trump’s statement not bode well for a free and democratic society?

    Univision quotes Trump as saying “If I happen to be president and I see somebody who’s doing well and beating me very badly, I say ‘Go down and indict them.'(AP News 2023)

    Hitler and Putin came into the house as sheep but turned out to be wolves with pretty big teeth.

    I’d say that Trump’s “fruit” is pretty rotten and surely indicates there’s a wolf under that sheepskin. And yet, so many evangelicals are supporting him, some are worshipping him. I don’t get it. I just can’t get my head around it.

    I have a confession to make. I’ve voted Progressive Conservative in the past. I’ve always said my brain is fiscally conservative – hoping to leave something for my kids- but my heart tends toward NDP (because I want social programs to be available if my family and others need them). When Jack Layton was around, he had me rethinking my choices.

    But. Like the Evangelical acceptance of a man like Trump had me leave the church, so too does Pierre Pollievre’s campaign style make me aware that the conservative party has left me.

    Do you wonder WHY Pierre was campaigning in evangelical churches during Pride Week? An offshoot of the previous Trump presidency is that it has given “permission” for certain inside voices to come out in the open and shout. Cherry-picked bible verses to use as bludgeons against people who are God’s children too. Many Christians believe homosexuality is wrong because it says so in the bible. But…is it wrong? There’s been some significant linguistic research that suggests different translations that point more to pedophilia. We can ALL get behind that.

    So…this has been long…and honestly, I have a lot more to say about the last paragraph, as two recent Mamas I know are experiencing hate from the “love thy neighbour” crowd.

    But I’ll end with this. I think I’ve demonstrated the ravening wolf in Donald Trump. Pierre certainly seems milquetoast in comparison BUT we should be giving that sheep a thorough chigger check. Like Trump, he lies often and repeatedly. He tells us our country is broken to make us believe it. (Another blog) Mein Kampf detailed why someone might do that.

    “Through an able and persistent use of propaganda heaven itself can be presented to the people as if it were hell and, vice versa, the most miserable kind of life can be presented as if it were paradise.”

    If you feel it is broken, you feel you must fix it. Pierre presents that he will fix it. “verb the noun”…(but no how-to verb it).

    His foray into the Trumpian method of courting the evangelical churches has been a chigger of massive proportions for me.

    I didn’t vote Liberal in the last election. I’ll admit it. But I feel uneasy about the new Conservative approach. It’s time to pay attention to the sheep my friends.

    Uncategorized

    And We Are Off!

    granny18

    There we were, having made the decision to travel to Italy in honour of my 60th birthday. Trigger pulled; it was time to drag some dusty suitcases out of the closet and purge any travel-size items that had congealed over the last couple of years.

    We assembled the required paperwork (there’s more than our pre-COVID travel!), got our prescriptions filled (travel is a little more burdensome as we age…) and chose a travel wardrobe. (Washable, Anti-Wrinkle, Versatile – me and the clothing – check.)

    Keys, codes, and to-do lists were left with my daughter. (Estate info too…an optimistic traveller.)

    I downloaded our boarding passes, noticing I could only download as far as Paris. Ok. This is new. Paris? Milan? Other than learning the wrong language? Let’s roll with it.

    Our son-in-law showed up at the door the morning of our flight, ready to drive us to the airport. Given that the airport was on the OTHER side of Calgary, we gave ourselves plenty of time. Hugs all around, and we rolled into Departures.

    We spotted the WestJet counter. Quite a line, but we had lots of time, so we were good to go. After an ever-so-patient wait, we finally reached the front of the line. Progress!

    No.

    We were “too early” to check-in for our flight, and they pulled us to the side, where we leaned against the wall. We asked if we could leave and come back. We were told to come back in half an hour. Not entirely bad. We found a beer, and all is good.

    Back to the lineup. Still long. We waited, again, somewhat patiently. Good to go?

    No.

    We were told to wait a bit longer, so we held up the wall this time, finally checking in about 20 minutes later. Now…our luggage was checked in but, like us, labelled for Paris, where we had a connecting flight. I like Paris, but I wasn’t sure if we or our luggage would make it to Milan.

    Photo by Alex Azabache on Unsplash

    I got the attention of a West Jet agent who told me rather vaguely to see an Air France agent in Paris. Sounds simple?

    No.

    We’ll get to that little story in the next installment.

    Luckily the Calgary airport is functioning a little better than I’ve heard the Toronto Pearson airport is. Hence, we got through security as usual. By “as usual,” I mean the Moustache Guy had to go through the metal detector 3 times. He had dumped change, removed his wallet, taken off his belt, shoes, and glasses…and still beeped. We have no idea why, but this happens every time. He figures it’s his good looks making them want to frisk him. He could be on to something.

    I waited while the Moustache Guy reassembled himself, and we located our gate. Thank you, Calgary, for making this relatively easy. We were to become more appreciative of this ease as we moved through airports.

    We settled to wait, noticing a little fake grass trolley where fur babies could do their business and commented on how that was a new feature in the airport. Later we would wince a little as a young lad rolled himself around on the imitation lawn, wondering when it had last been used or cleaned. We couldn’t look…so we opened the Kobo e-readers and enjoyed some new writers. Kobo Plus was great for this. It’s a subscription service that gave us the first month free and we were able to download a long list of books from classics to originals. Airports turned out to be our biggest reading spots. Snacks nearby, earbuds playing string music. The wait isn’t all bad.

    We had splurged on Premium seating to ensure lots of space to get comfortable for sleeping. The new Dreamliner 787 offers a 2 x 3 x 2 configuration in Premium, so it was just us in our cozy little corner. I’m 5 foot 2, so legroom isn’t an issue. Still, I flail and roll and generally cause chaos around me when trying to get comfortable. Really, the person who would have been the third seat in Economy should have pitched in for the price of my ticket. Totally worth it.

    Was Premium seating worth it for us? Features included noise-cancelling headphones, a bottle of water and a cute little amenities kit from Rocky Mountain Soap Co. Additionally, we were entitled to complimentary beer and wine and more deluxe meal choices.

    That said, it was a LOT more, so the main draw was the space. I did, however, get into my amenities kit asap. (And maybe the wine…)

    The Wine was all uphill from here.

    The Dreamliner 787 also has features that make it an attractive option for long trips.

    • Larger windows, positioned for great views, are “dimmable” instead of having shades.  
    • High vaulted ceiling, wide-body (Good for my 7-foot nephew, less critical for my height, but it did help with that claustrophobic feeling.
    • A quiet air conditioner and technology reduce vibrations and soften engine noise.
    • Better speakers make the public address system easy to hear.

    Environmentally they are a bit more efficient too. Dreamliners use 25% less fuel per passenger compared with aircraft of a similar size.

    And, since health was a significant factor in our decision-making process, these features caught my eye.

    • More humid cabin air means your throat and eyes suffer less dryness.
    • The cabin is pressurized to 2,000 ft lower than the standard 6000 ft, making it easier to breathe and apparently helps with jet lag.
    • HEPA filtering technology keeps cabin air clean. The same HEPA filters are used to keep hospital operating room air clean and safe.

    Finally, I will say the staff was VERY attentive in Premium. I can only imagine Business class!

    First Prosecco – Saluti!

    One last text to my daughter with a picture of our “bubbly,” and we are OFF! Will we make it to Milan or end up overnight in Paris?

    To be Continued…

    #COVID19, Travel, Uncategorized

    Decision Making in 2022

    granny18
    Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

    The Decision-Making Matrix

    Over the past two years, we have been thrust into constant risk assessment and priority-based decision-making. Decision-making strategies meant for big business moves were suddenly applied to a local hockey game, an anniversary dinner, or a vaccination.

    COVID risk assessments will differ based on your age group, vaccine status, and the people you interact with (some of whom may be immune-compromised). My priorities will differ from yours. Undoubtedly.

    The risk assessments have evolved as COVID and vaccine development have evolved. I turned 60 during a pandemic that had taken particular aim at my age group, my husband’s even more so. Into that realization, we strode… aware that we would minimize our contacts, wear a mask, wash our hands and all that jazz. It made sense for us. As each vaccination became available, we were first in line. We still wear a mask in some scenarios.

    As travel began to open up, a long-held dream to travel to Tuscany began to peek out from under the trash heap of COVID. I wanted to go to celebrate my 60th birthday.

    Photo by Ylanite Koppens on Pexels.com

    But…SHOULD I?

    Now, I come as a package deal, and my husband is the most cautious being on the planet. (Sometimes annoyingly so, to be honest!) His own risk and priorities needed to be considered too.

    The situation had gone around so often that we were aware that it could change again.

    There were lots of reasons NOT to go. COVID had not disappeared. COVID did sometimes break through vaccines. COVID is of particular risk to those with heart disease, and the moustache guy suffered a heart attack 20 years ago. It would cost money, and I’m cheap. (Scottish, don’t ya know?)

    So why go?

    We are growing older. If I was 30, I might delay a little longer to feel more confident, but 30 has been doubled, and my husband is getting to the point where travel insurance will be a considerable part of trip costs.

    We both enjoy hiking on our travels, but admittedly the joints are beginning to protest. We feel compelled to do as much as we can as long as we can do it! (And time is passing quicker these days!)

    We are fully vaccinated, travelling to a well-vaccinated location. Why does “fully vaccinated” matter? The most concerning things about COVID are landing in ICU or dying, right? There are a LOT of COVID19 statistics on the Alberta Government COVID statistics page. Still, I focused on ICU admittance and death (per 100,000) for the vaccinated vs. the unvaccinated. (per 100,000 gives us a truer picture. Percentages for ICU and death can be misleading. Remember, percentages among completely unvaccinated come from about 9% of the 12+ population. The percentages for fully vaccinated come from about 87% of the 12+ with at least 2 doses)

    Let’s have a look.

    ICU hospitalizations

    COVID-19 ICU admission, count and rate (per 100,000 population), in the past 120 days in Alberta by vaccine status.

    Age group3 doses & admitted in ICU (rate per 100K)2 doses & admitted in ICU (rate per 100K)Unvaccinated & admitted in ICU (rate per 100K)
    Under 5 years0.000.0020.54
    5-11 years0.000.004.33
    12-29 years0.883.627.68
    30-39 years0.844.2615.07
    40-49 years5.3811.9635.42
    50-59 years10.7124.5593.39
    60-69 years21.4348.57361.04
    70-79 years39.4672.16619.93
    80+ years26.6270.1497.24

    Deaths

    COVID-19 deaths, count and rate (per 100,000 population), in the past 120 days in Alberta by vaccine status.

    Age group3 doses & died (rate per 100K)2 doses & died (rate per 100K)Unvaccinated & died (rate per 100K)
    Under 5 years0.000.000.00
    5-11 years0.000.000.00
    12-29 years0.440.330.00
    30-39 years0.001.143.01
    40-49 years0.380.7512.32
    50-59 years3.355.8740.86
    60-69 years12.6838.68165.05
    70-79 years49.09109.48782.29
    80+ years289.12365.71996.66

    Remember our age group? 60 – 69. This part of the decision-making matrix was pretty straightforward. Get vaccinated, especially if you want to travel.

    We are travelling from Alberta, Canada, with an 87% 2-dose vaccination rate and travelling to Italy. How protected are Italians? “So far, approximately 48.6 million people in Italy have received two doses, corresponding to roughly 90.1 percent of the total population over 12 years of age. Additionally, three out of four Italians have also received the booster shot.” (Statistica.com June 2022) Seems like Italians are pretty COVID conscious, not surprising given their start to a pre-vaccine pandemic.

    Our greatest protest for healthcare

    https://pathtothepasture.com/2020/11/07/our-greatest-protest-for-healthcare/

    Alberta had lifted its mask mandate, but airports and airlines still had theirs. Italy, at the time we were planning, still had a mask mandate in public places. Overall, I felt just as safe in an airport, an airplane, in Italy, as I was at home. That said, it’s HARD to overcome 2 years of constant vigilance, isn’t it? Still, we kinda sorta started planning.

    The first step was to book vacation rentals, but only those with free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead. More were available than I expected; I imagine this comes from their own adjustment to the pandemic reality. Having free cancellation certainly gave them an edge in my case.

    Next, medical insurance should we become ill, and new to me…COVID pandemic insurance. A medical policy is already pricier than it used to be. We paid over a thousand bucks just for insurance, but better safe than sorry!

    The rental car was also chosen for their cancellation policy. (We will get into whether this agency was the right choice later!)

    During our planning, the COVID19 test requirement was removed for vaccinated travellers, with only random travellers selected. That was one less hurdle!

    My son-in-law donated (paid for renovation help) Westjet miles covering one direction, so the trip would be more affordable! In addition, I was reassured by HEPA filters in Westjet’s 787 Dreamliner. We booked the flights, and yes, these were flights that could be changed.

    There were extra requirements to travel in this new world. Beyond checking our passport expiry, we had to set up ArriveCan accounts and download the app. We printed our new and improved vaccine certificates with “Canada” clearly displayed. Italy also required a Passenger Locator Form, and those details were entered. We bought both N95 masks (Canadian requirement) and FFP2 (European requirement) just in case one would not accept the other.

    Risk Assessment? Fairly low.

    Preparedness, just in case? Yes.

    Priority? We discovered a love of travel a while ago and have really been missing it. We would like to cover a long list of destinations before we can’t. This Tuscany dream has been in the lens for decades. COVID appears to be settling in, in one form or another, for a while. We are getting older. Yes, this trip was a priority.

    Decision made. Off we went and have returned with no regrets at all. Was it uncomfortable to wear masks like those for 8 or 9 hours? Yes. Would I do it again? Yes!

    Buon viaggio!

     I’ll be taking you along on our journey in future posts. I hope that YOUR “decision-making matrix” allows you to remain as safe as you need to be while discovering those things you may still be able to do. What does that look like for you?

    #COVID19, 2021, Doing what's right, Health, mental health, Uncategorized

    My Child, Me.

    granny18
    My child, Me

    Today I looked into the eyes of my child. (from an appropriate distance).
    My child has children of her own, but today she was my child. She is in pain. I want just to hold her and hold her and hold her.

    I cannot.

    My child is a nurse. She doesn’t work in the city Emergency Department as often as she used to. The little she is right now, is enough to hurt a skin already scraped raw. She knows others are seeing the same things, doing the same things but doing them day after day after day. Her own experience hurts—her awareness of their’s hurts her too.

    There has always been trauma in Emergency.
    Emergency nurses know they will see traumatic things, even that they will see death. It’s an unavoidable part of the job they signed up for

    But…

    This is different.

    As cases rise in our area and a more transmittable variant becomes ever more prevalent, COVID cases are pouring into hospitals in our area. And while age shouldn’t matter; (indeed, I said so near the beginning) https://pathtothepasture.com/2020/11/04/ageism/, there is something so painful about being a nurse to someone very near your age, knowing they, like you, have children at home. Knowing that in this wave, much younger people are in ICU. Knowing that much of this could have been avoided.

    How do these people come to know the patient has children at home? These nurses (& their colleagues) get to know these patients more than they generally have time for. They hold their patient’s hands, sit down next to the bed and tell their patient they won’t leave them in their terror. As that patient slides into sedation, that same nurse may move to the far less human process of intubation. That shift from connected humanity is hard. So hard. Nurses and doctors are making these connections with their patients in ED, in ICU… as family members stay outside…hungry for updates. They connect with these families more than they sometimes have had to. And then they hook their recently connected patient to an ECMO machine, prone them, administer drugs, fight for their lives…often losing that fight.
    This third wave is even crueler. It is traumatizing, and they haven’t rested long enough.


    Then they get traumatized again. Leaving work, they hear people saying the virus “isn’t real,” “just the flu,” “only sheeple believe in it”…. “Don’t get the vaccine.”
    Remember the story of the nurse waylaid by an anti-mask protest making her late for her ED shift? This kind of pain is visceral, and their fellow citizens are doing it to them. Some friends are doing it to them. Some family members are doing it to them. My daughter has been off social media for months because she can’t bear to see it.
    These people are down, and you are kicking them. You are kicking us, the families of those in health care. We look into their eyes, and we see pain. These are not superheroes; though we value them highly, they are human beings…battered human beings.

    They KNOW it is real; they KNOW it is bad; they KNOW the variants are thus far worse; they KNOW it should not have happened this way.

    Somehow, the wearing of a mask became enough to make people disrespect people like my daughter. My daughter…One of the ones who will hold your hand in your terror if someday this virus reaches you and takes you down a grim path. One of the ones who will update you if someday one of your loved ones takes this terrifying journey.

    A doctor I admire said this,
    “For everyone yelling “but the Charter of Rights and Freedoms” – You might be forgetting the part it starts off with: “…subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified.”
    There. Are. Limits.


    Dr. Fung is right. The people you are endangering also have rights; people working in health care have rights. Your rights don’t supersede theirs. If we had all worked together to stop the spread, you might already have your lives back; Dr. Fung and I may be going for dinner. I might be able to hold (and hold and hold) my daughter.

    Cape Breton Trail 2019

    We could be closer to the end of this pandemic. We could have been like the Atlantic provinces, whose citizens cared for each other and understood that public health restrictions were meant to protect those they held dear and those they had never laid eyes on, but loved anyway.

    I’ve shown you deaths aren’t the whole story. I’ve told this story before but seeing my daughter today brought it back. Although not the entire story, I’ll end with this. COVID has killed 23,062 Canadian citizens…so far. Many more have long term effects. We are a long way from fully vaccinated; some variants are more apt to cause severe complications and cause them in younger people. For perspective, these deaths roughly equal the total deaths from —Pancreatic, Colorectal, Kidney, Breast, Cervical, Larynx, and Thyroid cancers in 2019. Imagine if we could have saved my Dad, my sister-in-law, my friend’s brother, and other mothers, fathers, sons and daughters by wearing a mask, washing our hands, social distancing?

    Imagine…

    Uncategorized

    85 Factor

    granny18

    I’ve worked 2 union jobs in my life and I was always in awe of how much conversational time could be devoted to the 85 factor.

    The 85 factor, for you non-union folks, is a magical number where you get a full pension. It’s calculated by adding together your age and years of pensionable service at retirement. If the total equals at least 85 points, you’re entitled to an unreduced pension as early as your 55th birthday.

    Retire at 55? Unbelievable!

    I did.

    BUT

    I did not get an “unreduced pension” because my number was far from 85 and meant a VERY reduced pension. My grandsons make better money from their paper delivery than I do from my pension.  (Hey guys, can you float grandma a loan?)

    I have a lot of life in me yet and could have stayed on to receive a better pension, but it was time to go.  There was a definite limit to the opportunities available to me at this employer and I was treading increasingly viscous waters. It was a great place to work but sometimes it’s just time to move forward.

    The decision to retire was led by my heart not my wallet and that’s not entirely a bad thing.

    Those folks endlessly discussing the 85 factor? Some of them died before, or shortly after, getting there. Some experienced poor health during the countdown. It was time, but they didn’t go. As an empath, their frustration was palpable to me, the air fairly thrummed with it. 

    I need enough money to live on and explore the world a bit. A chunk at Christmas (I don’t call myself granny18 because of my age folks.) Beyond that, money is not my most powerful motivator. When I stopped leading a purpose-filled life at work, my motivation was gone. That’s how it works for me.

    Making responsible financial choices for retirement is important, and I’ve done it in other ways. My focus was more on getting TO and THROUGH retirement happy, healthy and fulfilled.

    Some people are fortunate to do both, reach their money magic number AND enjoy all the time getting there. (Maybe I’ll get those happy souls to buy me lunch? You know who you are… 😉

    What’s your motivator? What kept (or keeps) you working? Was it (is it) the right decision for you?

    Uncategorized

    Who goes on a Retirement Journey Anyway?

    granny18

    A retirement blog might be assumed to be written by someone retired, yes?

    Do I fit?

    Looking at the definition of retirement as provided by Dictionary.com we see retirement explained as:

    Retirement re·tire·ment rəˈtī(ə)rmənt

    The action or fact of leaving one’s job and ceasing to work.  

    Well, yes, I did leave my job. There was a party and everything.

    No, I have not ceased to work.

    So maybe not “retired”.

    Dictionary. com suggests:

    Semi-retirement sem·i·re·tire·ment semīrəˈtīrmənt

    The practice of retiring or withdrawing from employment or an occupation but continuing to work part-time or occasionally.  

    Ah yes, semi-retirement resembles more of what I have going on. I am part of a casual writing pool, write on a contract basis, babysit for kisses and have a gig which keeps me fit and contributes in a minimal way to my vacation fund.

    I work sometimes, I do other things sometimes and sometimes… I write.

    Over the years, people would say,

    “You should be a writer.”

    I always meant to do it.

    There were little stabs here and there, and PILES of reflective journals adorn my office.

    At a friend’s funeral, they read a letter out loud I had sent to him before he passed, promising I would follow his advice and write. (Busted)

     I became determined to follow through.

    That was twelve years ago.

    At another funeral, I was asked to be “emcee” for the celebration of life and received requests for the notes from the event.

    “You should be a writer.”

    I again became determined.

    That was 4 years ago.

    There was always something more important.

    More important.

    Babysitting, Facebook…cleaning the toilet.  Right.

    During our recent move, I discovered a bit of the book I had started writing in 2008. Attached to the notes was an email from a much-respected friend, saying I had made her cry. She is one of the toughest people I know and doesn’t go in for unnecessary emotion; making her cry was worth noting. Upon rediscovery, I thought,  

    “Huh, I’d forgotten this.”

    I was surprised to see how far along the writing was. I always knew it was squirrelled away somewhere but had forgotten that I’d made progress.

    We sometimes trudge along in our daily routines and create ruts so deep we can’t see over the rim to our dreams and bucket lists.

    So, here I am in semi-retirement. A break in those trudging daily routines. A chance to get some of the things done I’ve been pushing aside. Most mornings (much as I had envisioned) begin with a leisurely cup of coffee and some reading.

    But many of those mornings…

    I write.

    ~ “I’d love to hear your comments on what you’re exploring in retirement, or what you will explore once you get there!”  – RD