Retired!

 New Beginnings

It’s official, I’m retired.

It has been a week now and it is still sinking in. All of a sudden I have time. I can just … be.

Really this is the first time in my life where I was not expected to be constantly busy. To be productive, to live according to someone else’s timeline.

There are a lot of things that I want to do but the urgency to squeeze them into specific time slots isn’t there.

This week I had to clean off the bed in my craft room and change the sheets. (Our daughter is coming into town this weekend and staying with us.)  It took me almost a week but it is done. 

Over the last few months the bed has become my de facto desk. I have a lap desk set up on it with my computer on top so that when I sew I can easily consult the pdf instructions without having the computer eat up my limited sewing space. Since the bed is a desk, that means that the bills and other papers that I didn’t have time to file and sort wound up intermingled with sewing patterns and scraps of fabric because, in addition to being a desk, the bed is also a great place to put projects-in-progress.  And my feet. (I’m currently sitting in my desk chair with my feet up on the bed and the lap desk on, well, my lap.) During the morning hours it is a lovely place to sit and bask in the sun. And, since I’m retired, I can do just that.

Now I still have a lot of other things to do in this room and in almost all of the other rooms. That said, I can do them when I wish. Slowly, quickly or, should I so choose, not at all. The last one is unlikely but it is an option.

In the last week I have slowly and intentionally practiced with my new serger/coverstitch machine. For those not in the know, it is a machine, a little bigger than my sewing machine, that allows me to sew with much more professional looking seams and hems. The new machine is now occupying my sewing table and the sewing machine is on the floor waiting for me to clear off my desk (not the bed-desk but my actual desk-desk) so that  I can use them both on the same project without having to switch them around.  The desk desk is currently occupied mainly with my daughter’s violin and another lap desk (they multiplied during lockdown.).

My new machine was my retirement gift to myself. So far I have made 2 pairs of workout tights, two pairs of flare leggings, two double layered hooded blankets and a dress. I have also used it to repair a couple of items where seams had popped open. So for someone not doing much this week, I’ve actually done quite a bit.

Past projects have either been rushed through in a weekend or taken a couple of weekends to complete due to time constraints, Yes, the blankets were over a month overdue but I am hoping that, with time on my side (and the presumed ability to actually decide on the fabrics) that I will be on time for the birthdays next year. (Sorry L & L!)

What else have I been up to this first week of retirement? Well I worked out 6 out of 7 days, 5 barre classes and a rowing class. All in the morning! No more late dinners! I also finished another project which has a looming deadline and made progress on some knitting. And finally, I took time to sit with a cup (or three) of tea and just read.

#noregrets