The Only Tired

There are quite a few things about being retired that are pretty wonderful. Not having to get up and go someplace to do something that you wouldn't do unless you were being paid, is one of them. Being able to work at your own pace and not have to work to some arbitrary deadline is another plus. You can pick and choose what you are going to do and when you are going to do it for the most part. Yes, retirement is pretty cool all in all.

However, there are some drawbacks to being retired. Your income tends to drop when you retire. If you had been conscientious about buying RRSP's, investing in only blue chip stocks, been frugal with your purchases throughout the years, you will more than likely be in good shape. You could do what I did and stumble into a job that had a pretty good pension plan, so that when you didn't do any of the above smart things, you would still be okay financially. Even with all of that, you still will be making less money when you have the time and leisure to spend more money. I suppose that is just life's way to gently let you know that you are not and have never been in charge of your life.

You know all of those things that you plan to do when you retire? Well, more than likely you won't be doing any of them. That's not fair, you will be doing some of them, just not as often or as well as you would like. I thought that I would have a great yard and garden when I retired. I could edge the lawn every couple of weeks, make sure that the flower beds were weeded on a daily basis, hell, I could have flower beds! I could trim those dead branches off of the trees in the front yard and I have wanted a Lilac bush for years. I would cut a barrel in half and bury it in the front lawn so that it looked like multi coloured flowers were spilling out of them. I would paint rocks to look like animals or pastoral scenes and of course I would become the "Birdman of Calgary" with many and varied birdhouses for all of my feathered friends. Life would be great in our yard.

Sadly, I don't like to garden any more now than when I was working. I am a reluctant gardener who gets no joy from the garden. I will admit that when I have finished cutting the lawn it looks pretty good. Well, except for the edges that need to be trimmed and the odd little strip that I missed for some reason. I always figure that I can get the edges in a while after I have a drink and rest a little. I suppose that I can and should plant a Lilac bush...maybe tomorrow or the next day at the latest. I have a barrel and it just might be time to cut it in half, but I will probably cut it in half so that it will fit in the dumpster. I might paint those rocks next year and although I like bird houses, I am not to keen on birds living in them.

I have been working at the Post Office for the last three days, doing mainly warehouse work. Packing boxes, moving boxes, unpacking boxes, loading boxes on skids, unloading boxes off of skids, moving skids of boxes from A to B, and then moving them from B to A. If I didn't know any better, I would think there is no rhyme or reason to the work. There is method to the madness I am sure, but it is far above my pay grade and that's just the way I want it. I'm there for the money!

One interesting thing is just how very tired I am at the end of the day. I didn't realize I could get this tired. My feet hurt, my legs hurt, my eyes kind of hurt and I have been sweating in places that I had forgotten had sweat glands. I have been eating my weight in Ibuprofen every night and taking an aspirin to fend off heart failure. I haven't been this tired since before I retired, and to tell you the truth the last time I felt even remotely like this is when I was a teenager and unloaded box cars full of lumber. When you are retired, if you start to get tired, you go inside and rest a bit. Why get tired if you don't have to?

I have two more days of this and after that, the only tired I want to be, is "re-tired".