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...

Saying "Good-bye"

We were happy and sad to make one last trip to San Antonio the day before Mark, Courtney and Colby headed out to their new life in Minnesota. When we arrived, we worked all day packing the last items and loading the moving truck. "Little" Carl and his friend Adam were a tremendous help. We had brought them up for a church youth conference. They spent the night at Mark's place. In the morning, before Mark drove them to Trinity U. for EFY, the boys also helped with babysitting and packing the last few boxes.......7 month old Colby seemed a bit bewildered as his little world was being packed away. Here we are sitting on the sofa for the last time. Colby was a trooper; he was so patient through all the upheaval. He's now walking, while supporting himself on the edge of the sofa. When I said my last "bye-bye" to Colby, he amazed me, by waving and saying "bye-bye". When I said several "bye-byes", he kept repeating them back to me and waving.

A big piece of my heart is now in Minnesota.

another July birthday!

Happy 21st Birthday to Philip! The 7th of 8 kids, Philip was born on 7-8-88 -- very easy to remember. Philip was always such a happy baby, even when he went to Disney World in Florida with us when he was 1 year old (top right picture). He had that happy smile on his face the whole day, and didn't fuss or cry once during those 3 long days. Philip is definitely a "people" person, and makes us laugh with his funny imitations. He loves sports--running, playing basketball. Have a wonderful birthday Philip!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, to our much loved daughter-in-law, Courtney. We are so blessed to have her in our family. She has been a wonderful support to Mark, as he obtained his D.D.S. degree. Courtney is an adventurous girl who enjoys the outdoors, camping and kayaking. Having a great love for animals (raised seeing eye dogs as a kid), she got her degree in animal science from BYU. She is also gifted with creative, artistic talents. Her biggest accomplishment, for which we are so grateful, is the birth of a beautiful son, Colby. Hope your day is the best Courtney!

(P.S. scroll down further to see 2 new blog updates.)

a 4th of July celebration

We celebrated with the usual--family, food, fireworks. Like true Texas rednecks, we celebrated by watching the fireworks from the backs of our pick-up trucks. (With 2 little babies, we didn't want the hassle of taking a shuttle bus to the park, so we joined many others in the HEB parking lot.)

My thoughts were on my mother, who was born in Vienna, Austria on July 4, 1918. From the time she was a little girl, she knew that someday she would live in America. In an official affidavit sent to the American Consulate, my father stated: "After serving 15 months in the service of the United States Army in Europe, I was honorably discharged as Staff-sergeant in the 869th Field Artillery Battalion. While in Europe, I became acquainted with Leopoldine Ibba (in Salzburg, Austria)...I became engaged to marry her; that she is now employed as a Secretary by the Headquarters Company of the 5th Infantry Real Estate Office; that she is 28 years old and both her parents are deceased....It is my intention to marry the said Leopoldine Ibba immediately after her arrival in the United Sates and that I will be responsible for her care and support thereafter in the United States; that my mother approves of said marriage (his father was deceased)."

After enduring many hardships during the war, a lifelong dream was fulfilled. She sailed on the ocean liner "America",entered New York Harbor, and was welcomed by the Statue of Liberty. The following week, my parents were married in Providence, R.I. and I made by entrance into the world exactly 9 months later.

Get ready, set, retire!

Grandpa is retiring ! We've been planning this for several years now, and had been planning on retiring in Jan., but then, the company generously offered a package deal to downsize its workforce. The timing was so perfect. Monday, July 13 is the big day! We'll be joining the ranks of the blissfully unemployed.

I'm looking forward to not getting up every morning at 5:30 to pack a lunch for Carl. Now he'll finally get around to completing the never-ending "honey do" list, the things he's been promising me for 20 years he'd do (like shelving units for upstairs playroom). Although we'll have more freedom to go places whenever we want, we'll still be grounded until "little" Carl graduates from high school next year. I do have a few concerns, such as sharing this computer, and I'm sure we'll be driving each other crazy during the adjustment period. I'm wondering how long it will take for Carl to get bored being at home. He has a car project going on in the garage that will keep him busy for a while. There are several other big projects, such as replacing the siding on the house. If he gets really bored of being a home body, there is already a company that wants to hire him part time, or as much time as he wants, to help them with stuff.

A week ago, Carl got it in his brain that he wants to get one of these for retirement.

It would save on hotel bills, if we decide to travel a bit. However, it is scary thinking of pulling into an RV park full of old retired people! I'm not too enthused when he shows me photos of these travel trailers on the Internet.

Stay tuned for future episodes of "Retirement".

more on a busy month

We finished off the month of June by celebrating this sweet grandson's 5th birthday. He and cousin Kyla (standing right next to him), will be entering kindergarten in Aug. They are such good buddies. We had so much fun at Aiden's house, jumping on the trampoline, swimming, and just being together. We were treated to Brian's delicious barbecue, a new side dish Emily made --Emeril Lagassie's (sp?) corn pudding (a real treat), and Emily's homemade coconut cake.