Routines...

There’s something about springtime that makes me happy.  The sun and green grass after a long, cold winter?  The chance to begin anew?  The reminder that life is seasonal?  Perhaps the answer is “all the above”….

It’s been sunny and mild in Podunk this week.  The tulips are a riot of pink in the container garden on the patio.  The first lilac blooms are opening.  The grass is greener than green, and the sky is blue and cloudy.  It feels like spring….

We went to the nursery yesterday and came home with some new plants: snapdragons, hydrangeas, and a calla lily.  Something about purchasing new plants for the garden is so exciting.  The only thing that is better is getting plant cuttings from friends.  The blue iris, a gift from a friend, is doing well, as are the narcissus that he replanted.  I guess they were a gift from my mother, who planted them so many years ago…

A renewal of another kind is happening, too.  It has been ten months since I retired.  Although they’ve been busy months, they’ve been somewhat disjointed.  Or unplanned, or something.  After a career of planning every moment, wearing the clock out by looking at it, and recording every movement and action, I was feeling lost.  Very lost.

Nurses assess the patient and write a plan of care.  We then evaluate the efficacy of the plan as it is implemented and make any necessary changes.  Medications are given at specific times.  Procedures are done on a schedule, too….

It’s no wonder that I felt adrift when I first retired.  Nothing is planned to the nth as it used to be.  While that fact has a definite up side, it also left me wondering what to do and at what time.  Sort of.  It has been fun to sleep when I’m tired, eat when I’m hungry, and hop in the car and go somewhere when I’m bored….

There’s no more TGIF, because every day is Friday.  There ARE weekends, and I keep track of them so we don’t end up needing groceries when the rest of the world is in the store.  And there are appointments, duly written down in an appointment book and on my iPhone.   At least the phone beeps at me to remind me where to go, and when….

I truly don’t get bored very often.  I do get tired of doing one thing and move on to another, leaving the first one incomplete.  But who cares?  What I don’t accomplish today I can do tomorrow.  Right?  I hope so…..

Slowly, but surely, some sense of routine is developing.  There are times for doing chores and times for being creative and times to just relax and enjoy the day as it unfolds.  Since I’m no longer working, there are more hours in the day, my day, than there used to be.  I figure it’s time to use them as I see fit….

Like driving up to the lake to watch the sunset….

Cali