Weekends and Vacations

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I’m a retiree. I know there are some people who don’t retire until way past the average retirement age. I know that age limit keeps pushing further up. I had always told myself that my goal was to retire by 55 years old. My reasoning was due to health issues and getting tired of people telling me I was driven by money. For the most part of my life, I was the primary wage earner. Quite frankly it was exhausting and frustrating, because I was expected to keep everything going. I retired at 54.5 years old.

Throughout my employment days, I lived for weekends and vacations. Mostly because, I had children to enjoy raising them. I loved my family time. I remember when I planned family outings how excited and happy my kids would be. It was always a time when special meals and treats outside the ordinary were planned. It usually involved venturing out of town or state. Although staycations were nice too. I loved the summertime staycations, because BBQ’s and long days were fun. There were years before technology took over that we just enjoyed each other’s company.

One of my favorite weekends was in Washington when we all ventured out to go sea glass hunting on the beach. The thrill of finding the different colors of glass kept us going for hours. And the bigger, the better. I still have the bottle of sea glass sitting where I can see and enjoy the memories and laughter of that day. We would also hunt for shells, stones and driftwood.

When we traveled to Montana and Wyoming, whenever we saw a different shade of dirt, I would hop out of the car and pick up a small amount of dirt and put it in a baggy. When we returned, I put the dirt stacked to show the different colors in a couple bottles and displayed them for years in my house. It became the goal to discover a different shade to collect.

For a while, we had a timeshare in Las Vegas the week before Christmas. For years, we spent our vacations there. Sometimes we would trade to visit another state and place. Then the level of cleanliness it was originally changed and we set our sights on vacations at other times and places.

Like work though, some vacations were exhausting. And by the end of the trip, we looked forward to coming home. We usually spent a couple days at home winding down and unpacking before returning to our daily routines.

So retirement. Do we really retire? After being retired for a few years, I returned to work for a short 8 months to bring in some extra cash when things got tight due to the lack of hours for my husband who had changed careers. I am a person who does not like living paycheck to paycheck. When my body couldn’t take the 26,000 steps per day and standing for long hours, I stepped back again. Those 8 months though, I looked forward to my time off. One of the sacrifices with the job was missing church occasionally. I didn’t like that part at all. One time I saw my Pastor come in and when I hugged him, I just welled up with tears. I knew that was my sign to get back to church.

In retirement, I am still on the constant go. Sometimes I still want to do too much and overdo it. At my age, my body hurts and sits me down. The big difference now though is everyday is a weekend day or vacation day, so when I have to stop doing and rest, I do. Sometimes I forget what day it is, so I keep a calendar on the counter to keep me on task. My days just run together and they go by faster than ever.

Now I live to see my kids and grandkids who are in central and Southern California and my extended family members. We travel back and forth for our visits now. I also get to see from a distance their busy lives and how now they live for those times off.

I believe it is important to stay busy and active, but I also know how consuming life can get and we need to take time to smell the roses and do the things that bring us joy and contentment. Most of all, we need to listen to our bodies, take care of ourselves and rest. I believe being spiritually grounded is just as important. Throughout the Bible, we read that God rested on the seventh day after creation. Throughout the New Testament we read about Jesus resting and taking a lot of time for prayer and reflection with his Father.

Matthew 11:28 "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."




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