Saturday, October 1, 2011

Time We Have Rushed Through

One of the big things I’m learning in retirement is to slow down. For years I was so time challenged that everything was rushed through in the most efficient manner possible. No time was taken to enjoy the doing – the time just wasn’t there. Even things like doing crafts – the end result was the goal, not the doing of it. Working full time and having a room full of parrots and a barn full of horses just didn’t leave much time. Now though, I have none of those demands – no horses, no parrots except Grace, and no full time job. So now that I have all this time on my hands I am finally learning to enjoy the process – it doesn’t come naturally and I have to remind myself all the time but I’m getting there. It makes me sad to realize how much time was lost in the race…

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I finally know what retired people mean when they say they don’t know how they worked full time – they’ve slowed down their efforts to a more human speed and can’t imagine speeding it up again.

I think I’ll make this my new anthem.

Slow down, you move too fast.
You got to make the morning last.
Just kicking down the cobble stones.
Looking for fun and feelin' groovy.
Hello lamppost,
What cha knowing?
I've come to watch your flowers growing.
Ain't cha got no rhymes for me?
Doot-in' doo-doo,
Feelin' groovy.
Got no deeds to do,
No promises to keep.
I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep.
Let the morning time drop all its petals on me.
Life, I love you,
All is groovy

 

Today I spent more time in the camper rearranging the furniture. As anyone with a camper knows, there isn’t much you can do to change things around… however, since we have a week coming up where Grace’s big cage will be inside I wanted to make it seem more spacious – ha. I played around with different chairs, but since Spike’s bed fits under the chair I didn’t have any luck with smaller ones. So I ended up just removing the big black chair and sticking his bed behind the comfy chair. I guess it works – Spike was a good helper, checking out the fit of each new configuration (for treats of course).

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The pictures in the first row are before, the second row after. Can you even tell the difference? There feel’s like there is a bit more room… Here’s Spike’s bed tucked behind the comfy chair.

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“Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.”

Will Rogers

4 comments:

ain't for city gals said...

Slow down...great advice. I think this is what I am most grateful for...being able to get up in the morning and do exactly what I want when I want to. To me that is what freedom means...

Merikay said...

If my husband slows down when he retires he will be immobile. He doesn't get anything done now!

Terri's Pal said...

Simon & Garfunkle have always been my favourites!

Terri's Pal said...

Sheesh ... you'd think I'd remember how to spell Art Garfunkel's name by now.