Upon retiring, I immediately went to work in a new job.  That job went into a slow period and I got another job.  In my last post I gave a lot of reasons for doing so, all perfectly valid.  There is, however, a problem.

I fill my life with lots of activities, work, caregiving, the daily household tasks, maintaining a healthy marriage, several hobbies, movies, raving about the silliness of politics, and so on.  The problem is that there is still time in my life to just sit.  That leads to what Ezra Bayda calls “The Anxious Quiver of Being”.  He is talking about the fundamental issue of life:  “What am I doing here?”.

We fill our lives with myriad things to avoid dealing with this question.  Addictions are ...

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Marti Weston (check out her blog) asked this question after reading my last post about my new job.  I like to think I lead something of an examined life, but I know I haven’t fully examined my motives for continuing to work after retiring at age 68.  The money is part of the equation, as Carol and I agreed before I retired that it would be best if we live on our income for a few years before we have to tap our retirement savings. In addition, I have a tendency to buy boy toys, so having some money for them is a bit of a goal.

What happened when I got my first post-retirement job is that I discovered a talent I did not know I had.  I simply love working ...

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I was able to go home on Friday with one of those ugly drains hanging from my stomach and I spent Christmas with my guys.  We went out to dinner instead of cooking and that worked well considering the circumstances.

The surgeon was able to remove two ...

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Both my mother and my father suffered from dementia. While neither of them had Alzheimer’s disease, a fear of this particular form of dementia looms large for me as for many in my generation.  The older I get the more unsettling small moments of forgetfulness become. I believe that having solid factual information about Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia is vitally important for all of us at this stage of life. And it is equally important for children and loved ones of the elderly to know much ...

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Some of us are able to accept that the end is coming sooner or later. The couple in this video are planning for the time when he will be gone, and she will be alone.  Senior co-housing is one option for companionship and support for the spouse that is left behind.

Weighing the Options from Our Future Selves on Vimeo.

Technorati Tags: afraid, aging in place, Brave Old World, caregiver mental health, caregiver needs, caregiver stress, co-housing, coping with death, Elder Spirit, end of life, end of life decisions, family caregiver, pain of caregiving, Paula Span. Columbia University School of Journalism

Today, with my right hand encased in a stunning purple cast, I can’t use my cherished Microsoft Word. The best I can do is to hunt and peck enough to edit this.

And what is this?

I am “writing” this post via an iPad app called Dragon Dictation. Since I had joint replacement surgery on my hand almost two weeks ago, ...

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One of my first memories about retirement was when a rancher in my home town quit riding every day when he was 85 years old.  A year later he was dead.  My father talked about it as though the rancher’s retirement was a death warrant.  It shaped my attitude about retirement, in that there was something  vaguely morally wrong about stopping going to work every day.

I have been retired since March 2011 and have two jobs.  What is interesting about my attitude about retirement is  that I acquired it from my father who retired at age 65 and never worked  another day.  I really do not know how he  made the transition to retirement as he never in his life talked about his feelings.  I do know he made regular trips to ...

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I mentioned earlier that I was engaged in a job search to fill in during Four Mile’s slack season.  Winter just about brings activities to a complete halt at the Living History Park.  The wagon road is a complete sheet of ice, too dangerous for the beautiful Percheron and Belgian draft horses to pull the big prairie schooner.

I got a job!  I am a part time Health Care Security Officer with HSS Inc.  HSS is a large security firm providing security services to hospitals, city ...

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The poet is Kane Smego who is a frequent participant in Poetry Slams and he is the Artistic Director of Sacrificial Poets, a Chapel Hill, NC group who’s mission is “To inspire, foster, and promote artistic expression, personal growth, and social justice for youth in our collective communities through the use of the spoken and written word.”

Below is the written transcript of the poem from the video.

Retired Royalty By: Kane Smego

There is a proverb from the Ashanti of Ghana that says: “The words from the mouth of an old ...

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Hand Surgery

Carol had hand surgery today.  She has been bothered by pain in her right hand for about ten years, so she finally mentioned it to her doctor.  The doc got some x-rays, said there is some arthritis in her wrist that was bone to bone, and surgery will fix it.

So, today after about four hours at a surgery center Carol is home with her hand and arm in a cast with a prescription for some pain medication.  All is well so far.  So what’s the big deal?  Something doesn’t work too well anymore, so get it fixed.  That is what we do as we get older.  I am doing it as well. I’m sitting here with my titanium knee.  My friend has a titanium knee as well, and his ...

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We attended Barbara’s Memorial Service a few days before Christmas.  While the snow fell softly outside the chapel windows, Barbara’s children, grandchildren, friends and loved ones sang and played, recited poetry and shared memories of Barbara and her multifaceted life.  It had been a journey of exploration and connection.  We were struck by how many of her friends and associates had met Barbara unexpectedly on a ...

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This is the time of year for resolute looking forward.  But as Janus, the Roman god that gives January its name, shows us, looking forward also involves looking back.  Our stories about those who are ill  and those who have left us are an important part of what we carry with us into the unknown ahead.

We all benefit from one-another's stories.  Fortunately it's not too late to enter the Your Favorite Memory Contest.  Here's a chance to memorialize your family and win prizes.

Technorati Tags: aging, Alzheimer's disease, caring for aging parents, family memories, family stories, Love, Your Favorite Memory Contest