In a few days, I will be on vacation to use up accumulated leave before my official retirement date at the end of July. It is time.
I thought the changes of adolescence and early adulthood were huge, but somehow I don’t remember them being as profound as what I’m going through right now. Is it because we’re just too young to recognize how big those changes are? Or too excited? Or too resilient?
Maybe it’s because we have changes happening in the rest of the family too. My role as a daughter has been shifting as I take on more responsibilities to support my parents. Nothing too serious yet, but I am doing the gardening, washing windows and filing taxes and medical claims. at the same time, my kids are moving into new phases of their lives; nothing absolutely confirmed yet, but I anticipate being an empty-nester soon.
I don’t have any big fancy plans – next week I’ll drive up to my cottage property to retrieve a tent for my daughter. There will undoubtedly be a group bike ride, and an extra swim practice.
I’m looking forward to the luxury of picking daytime dance classes for the summer. And going to swim at the Pond, which has very limited hours, any weekday morning instead of hoping the weather is nice on the weekend. And doing a deep clean of some part of my house (closets? All the windows? TBD).
And I want to read – just sit back and dig through a large stack of unread magazines and books. I’m really curious to see how much simply relaxing will affect my sore shoulder and neck. They are already feeling better than they have in months.
