Summer Retirement

My mother-in-law is always saying that retirement is more work than going to work and that she is more busy now than ever.

I can appreciate that right now. I had all these remarkable fun things planned to enjoy as soon as school is out and it has been almost a month and my time is at a premium working on things that have been put off during the semester or before the wedding. I usually have a little "to-do" list that I'm working off, but never this long or involved. I've barely skimmed it.

I want to make that time for myself to enjoy this life a little. It really feels like it is booking and here I am a few weeks away from an ending-in-0 birthday and staring at the digit before the 0 and saying "where did that come from?" It's just a blur. I'm happy with where things are, because I worked darn hard to get to this place, I just didn't expect it to take so long, you know? My roses died (as all plants under my care eventually do,) so I haven't smelled them in a while.

This is also kind of the first time in life that I have felt like the future I've been planning for is not in the future anymore. I am living "in the real world" now. It's an interesting feeling.

Things have slowed down a little. The overtime at work has petered a little (although I still have to work my entire weekend next week.) I've gotten back into the routine at the gym, which is making me pretty happy. I missed it a lot!