I Was Thinking... It’s About Time!

“Well, it’s about time.” Those few words are often expressed when we start doing something that someone else felt should have been done quite some time ago. Procrastination is a malady afflicting many retired people. What we don’t get done today we can always do tomorrow or the next day. The urgency of deadlines became somewhat diminished when we didn’t have to go to work every day. After all, we have all the time in the world, or do we?
When you are working, retirement seems like a utopia. No alarm clocks going off, you can stay in your pajamas until noon, and you can do whatever you want.
But seldom do dreams of the future and reality turn out the same. If you happen to have a spouse, you know there is always something to do that is not of your own choosing. As a couple, over the years, we have established some unwritten roles for each other. I don’t dust and my wife doesn’t change oil. However, each partner has a clear idea of what the other person should be doing. “What time is dinner” and “the garbage can is full” are really statements of what we expect the other person to do.
Another myth about retirement is that there is plenty of time. Most of the retired people I know have to keep a calendar, so they know what is on the agenda for the week. Another reason is that if we don’t write it down, we forget. When you retire, new things seem to filter in to take up your time. Many times, it is things we choose, and other times people come looking for you because they know you’re retired.
When I retired, I had plans to organize my workshop, fix up the storage room in the basement, and sort through old paperwork. I could accomplish all those things I never had time for when I was busy working. That was 15 years ago and I’m still trying.
But “it’s about time” now takes on a new urgency. With each passing birthday, the years ahead get smaller and smaller. If I am ever going to get those things done, I’d better start now.
We have had the unfortunate experience of not moving in 47 years. During that time, we also added on to the house. Therefore, we have had ample time to accumulate more stuff than anybody really needs. When my folks passed away, I also inherited some of the stuff that they never were able to get rid of. So, you can see my dilemma, how can you “clean out” while at the same time save the “valuable” stuff. But determining what is “valuable” is a struggle in itself.
I inherited a large collection of family pictures when my folks died. They were invaluable when it came to making booklets of my family history. But when I’m gone, my children probably won’t have the same attachment to people they never really knew. But I can’t just throw them. The same can be said of the photo albums and photographs in numerous boxes in several closets. What about the photo books my wife and I made of the trips we took, will anyone else want them.
Then there is my record collection.
During a couple of those really cold days in January, I started a fire in the fireplace and started the process of sorting. I re-arranged, categorized, and organized but have thrown relatively little. It did bring back a lot of memories though. However, I did burn some bank statements from the 1980s. It was about time!
Did You Ever Wonder? — How do you know you’re not crazy and just hallucinating your whole life.