My First Real Retirement Day

Ok, I finally had my first real day of retirement. It started this morning when Pam went back to work. I had written up the items for today’s agenda last night while eating my last pack of Little Debbie Swiss Rolls that I got for Christmas. This morning was not only the first real day of retirement but also the first day of our self-imposed no sweets ban. We both figured that our 2025 weight loss plans should start slow. Before diving into the deep end of the Weight Watchers pool and all the meal-prep hassles involved in that nightmare, we figured we would first give up sweets. So far it’s been 24 hours now and I haven’t even been tempted. But, I digress. The point is that I had a plan for today as soon as Pam left the house…

* Did my exercises and my stretches 

* Spent zero time checking the stock market

* Hauled an old Christmas tree down from the attic and into my car. Lost control of a large box containing the limbs of the tree in question, sending it sliding down the attic stairs where it made a very loud and rumbling sound just before it crashed through the attic door, upon which time the ancient cardboard box basically disintegrated sending artifical tree limbs cascading onto the carpet and causing poor Lucy to pee on the floor. Once all was cleaned up I successfully took it all to the dump.

* Visited some of my Hope Church Volunteer peeps at the Cafe.

* Took on the out of control plastic container cabinet in our kitchen, discarding any container without a lid and any lid without a container. Threw the useless lids/containers in the recycling and deftly organized what remained after the great purge…

* Even though what follows was not on my written agenda for the day, I cleaned our bathroom to within an inch of its life.

* Stopped by the office to sign some document for Penny. Shared two awesome dad jokes to all my adoring fans who still work there. More than once I was told how much more boring the place is without me. Someone even said that they’re actually getting stuff done now.

* The only item on today’s agenda that I failed to complete was—making dinner for Pam. She had left two recipes on the kitchen counter and I thought I would surprise her by having one of them prepared when she got home. But, as I read through these two recipes it occurred to me that there were significant sections of the instructions that I didn’t understand. Discretion being the better part of valor, I deferred to her superior skills and decided to wait for a less intense meal was in the works—like soup from a can and grilled cheese sandwiches or barbecue cups.

And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. My first real retirement day is in the books—and if you don’t count the unfortunate incident with the 15 year old Christmas tree box—it was a smashing success!