I had lunch today with an old friend that I have not seen or talked to in, oh, probably 10 years or so. It was fantastic! I was quite jealous, though, because as I was scrambling to get back to work at a decent time, she had all the time in the world. She is doing some project management work, but on a pretty limited basis and is, for all intents and purposes, retired.
Ahhhh, the elusive R word that we all long for....
If you could retire today and know that you would be financially-but-not-extravagantly secure, what would you really do with your time? Yes, this is kind of a fantasy, but I'm not talking the cruises-around-the-world-every-month, spa-day-every-day type of living. Realistically, what would you like to do with your life if you didn't have to work every day?
In a nutshell: volunteer, work out, and have lunch with friends. Oh, and knit. How could I forget that?
ReplyDeleteWe had Kindergarten Roundup for our oldest on Friday, and I saw some of the moms organizing the coffee orders from a recent fund raiser that the school has. From what I can tell, they place a monthly Fair Trade coffee order that parents can participate in. I would *love* to help out with something like that!
I'd also like to get more involved in various activities at our church, which is just not feasible with my family's current schedule.
In my dream world, I would drop the kids off at school, go work out, meet a friend for lunch or coffee or something (or work out *with* a friend and then go see her friendly neighborhood Dunkin Donuts guy!), and spend the afternoon volunteering, knitting, or just plain cleaning the house and doing laundry (who has time for that in the real world??).
Then when I got bored with this schedule, I'd take a class here and there just for fun.
31 more years.... can I hold out that long??
Sigh. I agree with Tpea: my daughter would be off to school. I would work out more, have a cleaner house, and read more books. I would have "quiet time" every afternoon (oh to be 3 again.)
ReplyDeleteAnd, I watch the news with some coffee in the morning, sitting and relaxing, as opposed to running around like my hair is on fire trying to get everyone dressed and out of the house on time.