Musings
About retirement… and random other things!
These blogs first appear as weekly columns in the Red Deer Advocate
The importance of volunteering
Recently-retired people get all kinds of invitations to volunteer, which makes perfect sense as we supposedly have lots of newfound time to fill. Many people have the good fortune of beginning retirement while still full of energy, interest and compassion, along with an innate sense of responsibility. It’s the ‘go-go’ stage for us! And many of us...
Let the opportunities come to you
It was nearly a year ago when I stood up from the conversation when I first informed my boss that I was going to retire and I walked to the staffroom to make myself a cup of tea. Funny how tea can both wake you up and calm you down! I was certainly searching for calm after that heady declaration. The tea bag I chose had a tiny folded piece of...
The heart of the city
When I moved to Red Deer from a town down the highway, I was shown how to maneuver around the outskirts of the city each morning to avoid the traffic lights and the jostle of morning commuters (yes, there is a morning rush hour outside the major centres!). It was a fellow I used to work with who showed me how to plot my strategy. From where I...
Joy
I know we get laughed at in Canada because, well, we’re Canadian. Living in igloos and such, as the saying goes in other parts of the world, and walking around my favourite urban pond the other day in minus 40 weather may well have proven their point. Except for the fact that 40 below can be stunningly beautiful! The crystal clear blue sky in...
All I really need to know about retirement I learned in kindergarten
Nearing the end of my first full month of retirement, I decided to take a trip. Sounds a bit cliché, but my sister and her spouse are spending the winter in Mexico and asked me to come down. I scheduled a week in the sun, far from phones and the slight turmoil of transitioning from work. I figured this was perfect timing – a great way to leap to...
Feeling slightly lost, but mostly happy
'Okay, so I was a pretty cute four year old - just not too bright, since this is around the time I wandered around Sears not even knowing I was lost!' When I was four years old, I got lost at Simpson Sears. Yes, Simpson Sears, which was a cultural shopping destination for middle-class suburban families in the 1960s, but was to be phased out in...
Preparing for the big milestone
Sandy Bexon is the Advocate’s newest columnist. She has served as Communications Officer for Chinook’s Edge School Division for the past 15 years and worked in Communications at Olds College. She recently launched a new novel called Moving Mountains, and her short stories have appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul and other publications. She...
Time to deprogram myself
Okay, we’re two weeks into retirement and I’m hearing phantom text pings going off in the night. I’m accustomed to sleeping with my cell phone charging right beside me on my nightstand, having been one of the first people on an emergency contact list for work for the last decade and a half. Fortunately for me, the phone only alerted me to a...
Right place, just a bit late
Beautiful autumn colours in Central Park! I recently returned from a very nice vacation in New York. Oddly, I arrived just a few days after Mick Jagger and Lady Gaga surprised everyone with a little nightclub concert to celebrate the release of the new Stones album. Don’t worry, I’m not going to start ranting about my long-held fondness for The...