Today is Monday, so that makes it the day I have vowed to add five more things to the list of what I will do when I retire.
Last Monday's list included writing to all the people to whom I owed letters. The next day I decided that I did not need to wait for retirement to do that and responded to my first long-lost correspondent. In this case, it was my ex-wife Jamie who had sent a really nice letter via email on my birthday.
In a brilliant maneuver to show me up, she not only replied immediately to my letter, but sent a second two days later. So, after not answering for sixty days, I restored our correspondence to balance, but it only lasted 24 hours before I owed her another letter. And two days later, I owed her two.
I should add that Jamie and I are poster children for Amicable Divorce and have remained friends long after we broke up. Linda likes Jamie a lot, so if I don't keep up the correspondence I can't even use the excuse that Linda is jealous because Jamie would know it's not true. I could admit that I'm lazy and inconsiderate, and I am pretty sure she would accept that explanation.
In her second letter to me, Jamie recalled a poem I wrote when we were together. I have only a vague memory of ever having written poetry, and have not even thought about writing a poem since Jimmy Carter was president. Two months ago I would have bet the house that I never wrote anything that anyone would remember so many years later. But in that space, my second wife and my only father both reminded me of poems I had written - and both even remembered some of the words.
Astonishing to me, since I can't remember what I watched on TV last night.
Anyhow, this all leads me to this week's list of Five Things I Will Do When I Retire. And this week's theme is that I will do five things that I used to enjoy doing and have, for whatever reason, stopped doing.
No 1: I will write a poem.
Advantage: They don't have to rhyme any more
Disadvantage: Does anyone read poems any more?
No 2: I will teach kids
Advantage: I know lots more now than when I was certified to be a teacher
Disadvantage: Do the kids care about any of it?
No 3: I will learn something new that is totally unrelated to the career I am finishing
Advantage: Aging slows if the brain is active
Disadvantage: The brain slows as you age
No 4: I will listen to new singers and bands and fall in love with some of them
Advantage: This is a bit of a cheat since I have already started doing it since I bought the IPod
Disadvantage: Turning the IPod volume up enough to hear in my left ear is likely to render my right ear almost as deaf pretty soon
No 5: I will get involved with a community association
Advantage: That is probably a good way to meet lots of other old farts
Disadvantage: That is probably a good way to meet lots of other old farts
Now that I've written this post, I have absolutely no excuse not to answer Jamie's two letters. And let's face it, if a third gets in before I reply, I am a complete loser. And yet, I just know that somehow, some way, I am going to procrastinate. Maybe not. I'll let you know tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment