Musings
About retirement… and random other things!
These blogs first appear as weekly columns in the Red Deer Advocate
The long and winding road to The Bay
“Meet you at The Bay” was a regular refrain for me growing up. As a young teenager it was to the Market Mall location, where me and my friends would scrutinize the make-up aisle and spritz on their free perfume samples. Then there was always a mission to some other store in the mall where someone wanted to spend their allowance or babysitting...
Challenge to self: don’t be stuck in my ways
My friend from yoga showed me what my first ‘65th year challenge to myself’ should be. When I wrote the column about spending my 65th year putting forth a little monthly challenge to myself, I started wondering what the heck that would look like and what I would do. But the very next day, my friend asked me if I had time for a quick lunch after...
Oh, how my view of aging has changed
You know when you have a spare bit of time and you devote it to clearing out one of the storage bins so your kids don’t have to deal with all of it when you die? Sounds harsh, but that’s sort of how I view organizing the clutter these days. Thing is, statistically I won’t die for a few more decades, so there’s certainly no rush. But I stumbled...
Unexpected detour down memory lane
(Here I am at my first office job in 1981 - rotary phone, ashtray and rolodex and all!) The year 2020 brings immediate thoughts to mind of huge events, including one for me that seemed inconsequential at the time. It was the year I became eligible to begin receiving my Canada Pension Plan benefits, if I chose to do so. I was still working full...
Will you still feed me when I’m sixty-four
How we used to laugh at those old Beatles lyrics way back when, feeling that the age of 64 was lightyears away. But I’m here now. Just turned 64 a few weeks ago and must say it has already caused a bit of confusion. It started when my dear school friend sent me a New Year’s card that said what a great time was coming up, as we would be going into...
Elbows up, standing shoulder to shoulder with linked arms
Gosh, that title sounds like a game of Twister, doesn’t it? But it doesn’t feel like a game these days. It got me thinking: What do you stand on guard for? Your word? Your livelihood? Your kids? I vividly remember the last time I took my daughter camping. She was about five years old and I was just getting used to being alone in the world with...
Gracefully surrendering the coordination of youth
On the days when I wake up and my eyelids won’t accordion-fold open into their prescribed slots properly, I know I’m in for a day of jamming square pegs into round holes. A day where anything that requires the technology and good fortune of an accurate twist or a fold upon itself in order to function will be completely off. I will coax my eyelids...
Life is a matter of perspective
(Here's me with my youngest nephew on a previous set in Olds - the artist of the mural took the picture!) My nephews are so adorable. All four of them are clever and kind, and either in their 40s or inching much closer to that magic age. It was only a few years ago that I stopped slipping a $10 bill into their birthday cards. I mean, one of them...
A clean sweep
I have always found the action of sweeping my kitchen floors to be soothing, although by the third round of tending animal fluff in a day it can get a bit repetitive. I’m thinking it’s the gentle side to side rocking that’s relaxing, sort of like the motions we made when we were learning the song Kumbaya in the 1960s. Or maybe it’s the TV...