Time

The weekend flew by and left me reflecting about the privilege of time. I managed a little nap on Saturday, but still got to swim practice, dinner with friends, and most of my grocery shopping done (because someone needed to keep the stores open until at least 10 pm for my convenience). Today I had time for a visitor after church, a riding lesson, and baking cupcakes as well as a casserole for lunches next week. I even did a load of laundry, though I still have stuff to fold.

But all those people who work two or three jobs? The single parents? Those with no retirement plan? I don’t know how they manage.

My lack of time is partly by choice. I could hire a snow removal service, a house cleaning service, even a laundry service. I could chose to eat out more often, order food in, or use more pre-packaged foods.

As much as I enjoy doing most things the slow way (because it also tends to be the more environmentally friendly way) I am starting to feel the need to make more time to focus on things like visiting my parents. This may require more streamlining of stuff, and more decisions to cut back on activities, or at least cut back on doing so many things the slow way. Though honestly, I doubt that last one will happen. I like my hand-knit wool mittens, and home-baked bread. I like swimming, and dancing, and riding my horse. If anything, I would like more time to do those things, and more.

I think where all of this is leading me is to a serious realization that I may be almost ready for retirement. As much as I love some aspects of my job, I have found the last few weeks to be absolutely brutal. I have a retired internet friend who blogs about her daily life. It is refreshingly honest about her chores each day. She might cook something, or go or a swim, or pick up some groceries, or work on her latest craft project. Or not. Really, what does it matter if she lets it go until tomorrow? She’s retired.

My lifestyle in a meme


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