I Wasn’t Ready for Retirement—So I Created a 18-Step Plan to Sidestep My First Days

Even though today was day two of my new retired life, it seemed more like day one.

Yesterday was my first official day of retirement.

I spent it flying from Boston to Dulles in northern Virginia. My son and daughter in law work from home, so he took an early lunch to get us to Logan.

Several people have told me that I need to relax and enjoy myself.

They envision my getting back to Golf, fishing, hunting, and camping. Yet Today I have created a to-do list as long as any I have dreamt up. And I see the next few days being duplicates of today. And this list is separate from the list of outdoor projects I want to work on. These include grading the driveway rock across the dam, trimming bushes and trees, and working with Cynthia on outdoor yard projects.

I know this is not what I envision retirement being, but I am certain it will come, after all, I bought two puzzles.  

Tuesday 12/2 to-do-list:

• Get fire going in woodstove. Bring in more logs
• Fill the moisturizer cast iron container on the wood stove with water
• Clean up the water that overflowed onto the woodstove top
• HVAC Checkup 10 AM. Mack Morris Heating and Air
• Zelle Cynthia for gas and parking
• Zelle my therapist for tomorrow’s session
• Send an email to the bookkeeper helping me finalize Mom’s estate
• Organize my office so I can easily put together the documents she is looking for
• Find the EZPass that was in the Nissan Pathfinder.
• Fill the bird feeder both out front and out back on the deck
• Do three loads of laundry in between other projects
• Put the short metal fencing around the Lime tree in the dining area. This will keep the cat from digging up the dirt and then pooping in it.
• Take my medication, including the stuff for colds
• As the cost per ticket dropped over $150 per ticket for our February trip to PANAMA, it was time to purchase the tickets.
• Once I had my brothers and my ticket, I booked a seat on the same plane going down to Panama for my daughter.
• She is only staying two weeks, so I had to find a ticket back for her.
• Work on getting my 10,000 steps in. walk the ½ mile to the mailbox and back.
• Fix dinner for the 3 of us.

I thought it would be good to start my retirement with a weekly short update on what I am doing.  My to do list is in the way of my longer term plans.