Restoring my Normal Routine

It's been a different kind of summer, with community responsibility taking over from my precious routine. Between a big Sweet Adelines concert in early July, our Chopped show on August 4th and the Hotshots Fundraiser at Talking Rock on August 19, I am worn out. Now that those major events are successfully behind me, it's time to guide my life (and my temperment) back to something more normal.

"Normal" here is a good stress-free night of sleep, langorous mornings with coffee, some golf, a little housework, perhaps an errand, and an evening relaxing at home or with friends. I'm used to this rhythm. It's good for me. I stay busy, but in the ways I want to be busy - not according to anyone else's schedule or priorities.

Patio project almost complete!

I'm anticipating, with pleasure, this Labor Day Weekend which will bring a friend's housewarming party, a chili cook-off and festival, and a golf scramble. Our enhanced patio will be ready for social gatherings in a little more than a week. October will bring a visit to New England to see Mom and to spend a few days on Maine's seacoast. Song of the Pines chorus is beginning to rehearse Christmas songs in preparation for Prescott's festive holiday season.

Change is in the air... A shifting of seasons and a move back to normalcy. My arms are wide open.

The Healing Comfort of Home

We become more attached to our routine and appreciative of the comfort of our own home as the years pass.  I enjoy travel and having some newness in my life, but there is never anything better than coming home.  The familiarity of everything soothes me - from the view out the windows to my comfortable bed to having my "stuff" around me.  I've been away now for almost a month, and I truly miss our home, our friends, and our routine.

Two weeks ago, Mom had her open heart surgery and valve replacement.  Just yesterday she escaped the hospital, and all its noise, interruptions, and sterility of atmosphere.  She has one more stop before home, staying for about a week in a skilled care facility.  Here we hope Mom will eat better and get the physical therapy and rest she needs to regain her strength.  But I'm convinced the most rapid progress of her healing will take place in her own home.

At our family home, affectionately referred to as "1070" (part of the address), Mom will be able to recapture the comfort and serenity I know she craves.  She can make breakfast in her own little kitchen, do the daily puzzles in the Manchester Union Leader, and enjoy watching Fall wind down outside her bedroom window.  Once again, Mom will enjoy the privacy of her own bathroom and the relief of sleeping in the bed she shared with my father for so many years.  Meals will be served on her schedule, and be comprised of her favorite items.  With all this, and her favorite people and things around her, she will heal and thrive.

So, 1070, get ready to welcome Mom home.  She needs you.

Comfort in Routine

As the world turns and living creates turmoil beyond our control, I find comfort in personal routine. For example, eating is a necessary routine and “Comfort Food” is virtual transportation back to simpler times, when Mommy fed me favorite foods that made me warm and happy. I love mom’s Meatloaf, and various Greek dishes that evoke the memories of the fellowship at our church. When I have those foods now, they simply make me happy on a soulful level.

Retired now, and able to shield ourselves from much of the chaos around us, we have discovered a few things. We don’t much care for having our routine involuntarily interrupted. Our tolerance for personal drama has withered. The new life we have orchestrated puts a high value on calm, relaxation, and pleasure. Perceived attacks on that stress-free lifestyle are defended. There certainly will be life events that disrupt the peace – accident, illness, family misfortune – but we will deal with those as they occur, without artificially creating or anticipating disaster.

The day begins when I make a pot of coffee, open the window shades, and check in on my friends online. Before showering and dressing, I make the bed (it’s a rule). I try to work out 5 days a week, but I have to admit that’s not a routine quite yet, and my exercise often takes different forms (elliptical or treadmill/crunches/weights, or a round of golf, a hike in Prescott or a long walk in the city) at different times of day.

When I’m tired and ready for bed, the routines are short and sweet. I wash my face and brush my teeth, and turn down the bed. My feet get a luxurious treatment with a lavender-scented shea butter crème, before they slide between the sheets. I usually fall asleep easily, with the smell of lavender on my hands.

These little routines create normalcy that simply grounds my day. When my schedule was more hectic, many things fell by the wayside as stress and time pressures caused me to foolishly deprive myself of the simple pleasures of finding comfort in routine. No more. I deserve this.

There's No Place Like Home

I’ve written a few blogs with some of the details from our trip to the Mediterranean, but in the midst of the holiday season I feel compelled to write about the joys of just being home. Regardless of where we travel, there is always a deep satisfaction in returning home. We were away for over two weeks at the end of October/beginning of November, leaving for another week away to celebrate Thanksgiving with a friend. As much as I enjoyed both of these trips, I breathed a deep sigh of relief as we crossed the threshold of our little condo on Bittersweet Place. We’ll spend Christmas and New Years here, luxuriating in our personal traditions, in full nesting mode.

For me, the pleasure of being home is found in simple routine. I like taking a hot bubble bath on a really cold day, raiding our own refrigerator for healthy snacks, monitoring my connection to friends on Facebook, choosing to dress in sweats or fleece because I know I’m not going out today, or venturing out into the neighborhood to run errands. I revel in enjoying what Chicago has to offer. Every time I take public transportation (the el or the bus), I am impressed by how well it works, and how ingrained it is into the fabric of the city. It’s an important part of the “City That Works”.

Granted; a big part of how we are able to enjoy life at home can be credited to being retired. One of our favorite things to do is to pour an after-5 glass of wine and sit in the front room to watch the neighborhood come home from work. In other words, we’re still wallowing in the pleasure of being strategically unemployed. When people express surprise that we would tolerate the harsh winters of the frozen north by choice, our answer is that if it’s bad outside we just stay home. If the streets are icy, we don’t take the car out; we take the el.

So for now, we have no travel plans. My brother, Jason, will be joining us to celebrate Christmas in Chicago. The tree is trimmed and the fireplace is keeping us warm and cheerful. Sometimes, there’s just no place like home.

I'm Not Always in My Pajamas...

The question people ask me most often about life in retirement is, “What do you do all day?” (One friend calls and asks, “Are you still in your pajamas?” He hates it when the answer is yes. Life has settled into a casual routine here on Bittersweet Place…

MORNING: Coffee first! Then a little morning news and some Today Show. This is usually followed by powering up the PC and checking eMail, Facebook, and LinkedIn to see what’s shakin’ among my network peeps. Then I unload the dishwasher and we have a low-carb breakfast. Time to make the bed and dress in workout clothes. Workout in the Man Cave (5 days a week, for about an hour and a half) includes time on the elliptical, some weight lifting, and/or some Wii games.

AFTERNOON: A light, low-carb lunch (more on the low-carb discipline next week) followed by a shower or bubble bath. Throw in some laundry – then fold and put away clothes. Check eMail, etc. again. Write for one of my blogs. Recreational or educational reading for an hour or two – or run an errand (grocery, hardware, or drug store). Make some phone calls (social or “administrative”). Check to see what the stock market did today. It’s almost Happy Hour…

EVENING: Begins with a glass of wine or two in the front room, watching the neighborhood go by, talking with Ron, and planning dinner. Ron is the family chef, and usually makes dinner (low-carb again). I’m the cleaner-upper; loading and starting the dishwasher and wiping up the kitchen. The rest of the evening, we usually watch something on TV, pop in a movie, or read for a while. Between 10 and 11pm we head off to bed.

That’s the norm on an uneventful day. We can’t believe how fast days go by, with just these simple activities. How did we ever get anything done when we were working? Thank God for the luxury of time we so sorely needed for our mental and physical health. So far, this has truly been a period of recovery for us.

Now that the weather is finally getting nicer, there are more and more activities available. Our neighbor has started a book club. We have tickets to a handful of Cubs games. Next week, the new Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago opens, and as members we get a pre-opening preview. On occasion, we like to go out to lunch or dinner (Alfredo at Fornello’s knows us by name). There is great theatre here, and we have been to see a half dozen shows already. Summer will be full of opportunities to go to street fairs all over the city. Lake Michigan, the beach at Montrose Harbor, and the golf course at Waveland will soon be beckoning. It’s great to be in Chicago in the summer.