Retirement, Chapter 1

On July 13, Carl officially retired, after working 40 years at the same place. After a nice send-off from his work, he was free as a bird. During the first week, some of the ground rules and routines were established. On the first full day of retirement, Carl followed me out to the yard, asking ,"what are you doing?" and "why aren't you ready yet?" We were about to go on our first joint errand as a retired couple. "Honey", I replied, gently, but as firmly as I could, "Please don't ever, ever say those words again. You are now in my territory. I'm the chief CEO of this corporation. I've been running it for more than 30 years. You are now in my territory, and you are just a peon." I thought he took it pretty well. He shrugged his shoulders, walked towards the back door, and said, "I guess I'll just have to do my own thing til you're ready". When I came back inside, here's what he was busy doing.
Our first errand consisted of getting Carl some real work-out clothes and new running shoes (see photo below). On Mon., Wed., and Fri., we hit the track at the city park first thing in the morning, putting in 3 miles, and do lap swimming at the city pool on the in -between days. I wish I could bottle how good I feel after doing this. (Unfortunately, it doesn't last all day, and I'm drooping like a wilted flower come mid-afternoon.) After a leisurely breakfast, we then do our own projects (Carl's is in the garage), meet again for lunch, and so forth. Our first two weeks of retirement have been relaxing and fun, and Carl has been great about obeying the rules, so far. To be continued...