A day in the mix

So, I’ve been going on about how my version of retirement is a mix of things. These things have nothing particular in common, but together, they make for a delicious day. Today was a good example.

I started my day, as I usually do, with breakfast and coffee, which I enjoyed with the news … online, of course. (Yes, this means I eat at my desk. I know folks have thoughts about that. Feel free to add yours.) Reading the news with breakfast is an old habit. I remember doing it when “The News” arrived just once a day, on the doorstep or in the driveway, or for some of us, in the box down at the corner. It was called “the paper” (and it was), and you had to order a subscription, unless you lived someplace where you could pick it up at a newsstand. You could tear out articles you wanted to keep, it got ink on your hands, and it made a great surface for muddy boots. Now, “the paper” (which isn’t) is available 24/7, you download or print out things you want, you can’t handle it or tear it, and muddy boots have to find someplace else to land. I miss the inky reality of the newspaper. But you can still eat your breakfast while reading the news. I know this for a fact.

I folded the paper and laid it by the door (OK, not really), and then spent a few hours with my freelance editing job. I edit journal articles written by people whose first language isn’t English. The articles are written in what I call “English-ish.” The words are mostly English, and it’s usually  possible to discern some meaning from how they’re put together. But their precise meaning is often more than a little obscure. I totally love the puzzle quality of it: “Just what,” I ask the author in my mind, “are you trying to say here? What could you possibly mean?” I also love that I get to read articles in fields I would never enter under other circumstances. For instance, today I edited articles on the following topics: 

• tinnitus (ringing in the ears) associated with forced eye closure syndrome
• herbal remedies for memory loss in Alzheimer's
• glacial geomorphology studies
• the distribution of sea grasses and algal beds
• environmental improvement from a water quality perspective
• stimulus-driven attentional capture. 

Really! Except for the last one, I would never read these things—I’m a psychologist, for Pete’s sake! But with this job, I get glimpses into topics I’d never know squat about otherwise. Besides, I get to do it in my sweatpants, on my own time, at home, with a cup of tea at my elbow. And they call this work?

Long's Peak

Then, I took a very fine walk. The trail I chose is one of my favorites because it offers wonderful views of the Rockies. I can see as far south as Pike’s Peak and north beyond Long’s Peak toward Wyoming. That’s a stretch of maybe 100 miles of the foothills and front range. The high peaks are snow covered now, and while I was watching them, Long’s Peak disappeared into a cloud, which it often does. Looking up that direction, I thought about how cold it must be up there. And that reminded me of times I’ve backpacked in these mountains. One time in particular, I opened the tent door to go out around midnight. The moon was casting sharp shadows in this thin air, and the ground looked so bright, I thought  it must be lit by the moonlight. My hand was firmly planted on the ground before it struck me that  the brilliant white was snow, not moonlight. I packed up a wet tent that day and hiked out dodging clumps of melting snow falling from the evergreens. On my walk (today, not the frozen-hand day), I met a rescued greyhound and a golden retriever, who was certain that I had come out there to pet him. I obliged.

My next stop, the grocery store, is worth a bit of attention if only because it’s such a kick to shop there right now. They’re remodeling and staying open while they do so. This means that automotive supplies are to be found, quite logically, next to bread. Bandaids are near yogurt, and Christmas ornaments are next to OTC drugs; the pharmacy is on the far side of the store next to the coffee shop. Of course! The store is so crowded and the lanes so narrow that corner collisions are a matter of course. The employees have clearly been told to keep it upbeat through all this. I know this because trying to empathize with the checkers has led nowhere—and I’m usually pretty good at that. I'm sure they're pestered all day with questions and complaints, but they never utter so much as a “Yup, pretty crazy” when I comment (in a friendly, we're-all-in-this-together way) on the mess.

Back home, I settled down at my computer to work on one of my volunteer gigs. For a few years now, I have belonged to a safe schools coalition in my school district. This group works to make the schools safe and welcoming for LGBTQ kids, parents, and staff (LGBTQ means lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer… in case you missed it before). My job is to keep the website up to date, lively, interesting, hopefully “sticky.” I don’t do the techie stuff. I just feed material to our volunteer web maven. Thankfully, she takes it from there. Because I have been very involved in LGBT issues for several years, I have access to a lot of material. My partner is even more tuned into these issues, and she passes stuff on to me, too. I funnel all that to the website and hope that someone, somewhere looks at it and finds it marvelous. Much like I hope for with this blog. In case you’d like to be that someone, somewhere, check out the safe schools website.

And now, it’s early evening. I finished up the website stuff and started working on this blog. Next, I’ll dig into my “read immediately” pile of magazines. Smithsonian, Discover, and National Geographic are my favorites, but I'm rarely able to keep up with them. Whoever worried about being bored in retirement?! Later, I’ll go meet my partner for dinner when she gets off work after a very long day. It’ll be nice to stop for a bit and just enjoy being tended to. Unless the wait staff does that “honey” thing I mentioned in my last post.

There's the mix: morning news and reminiscences (about newspapers, of all things!) ... a half day of work that's actually great fun ... a walk wrapped around scenery, memories, and dog visits ... shopping as a contact sport ... volunteer work guaranteed to change the world ... all finished off with casual reading and time to chill out. 

What a great mix of a day, huh?