It’s now been a year and a half and I’m still finding out things and figuring out things about being retired. Yes, there are decisions. There are issues. There are changes.
There are questions. There are doubts. There are fears. About money (will I have enough to last for the rest of my life?) About health (will my aches and pains keep getting worse as I age?) About relationships (can we learn to live together happily now that we are both home and in each other’s hair all day long?)
On the other hand, there are new, exciting, wonderful things I never thought about much when I didn’t or couldn’t have them. Like reading the newspaper. Not just looking at the front page, but leisurely, lovingly poring over it for as long as I want, thoroughly enjoying every page with my morning coffee, and even taking time to do the crossword puzzle if I feel like it. Because I have the time. Or going to the Y every morning and working out and feeling good about it because I could and did take the time to do something good for me. Having lunch with friends. Writing, editing, working on my own schedule rather than having to be somewhere some place at some particular time.
All good, very good, yes. But today I was reminded of another perk of not being tied to a full-time job when I received an e-mail from a friend who said “Wow, Vegas, on a whim!” after I called to cancel a dinner date this Saturday, explaining that we had just decided to go to Las Vegas for dinner instead. Two days from now. Not because we like Las Vegas but to surprise our California son for his 40th birthday.
It happened like things sometimes do, by chance. I was talking to my daughter-in-law about what she and said son (our favorite dining partners) were doing to celebrate the big 4-0. “Nothing much,” was her response, “he’s really not too excited about it and not up for anything I’ve tried to plan so far. So I guess we’ll just go out for dinner here in San Francisco by ourselves.”
And then she made the mistake of saying, “It would be much more fun if we could just fly somewhere half-way across the country and meet you guys for dinner.” And I said, “Sure, where do you want to go?” Without missing a beat (they have no children and the cats do fine when they’re away), she said, “How about New Orleans?” So we looked at NOLA (too hard to get to, too expensive) and Chicago (too cold for California kids) and St. Louis (nothing there) and then settled on Las Vegas because it’s super easy to get to with direct flights, it’s warm compared to here, they practically give away hotel rooms to get you there, and there’s plenty to do.
Next day I bought cheap tickets on Priceline.com and signed up for almost free hotel rooms at one of the big splashy casinos (which we won’t even visit), selected because it has a fabulous restaurant that my husband and daughter-in-law, both in the wine business, have been drooling over for years. So we’ll fly in, have a great dinner, sleep in, see the Cirque du Soleil, get up early and fly home. In and out, a fun reunion with kids we don’t see often, a great celebration for a special birthday.
Why? Because we’re retired. Because we can.
* Lee Miller welcomes responses. Please email them to leemiller229@gmail.com
About Lee Miller
Lee Miller began her writing career with four books about Pennsylvania/east coast wines and the creation of Wine East magazine. She then went on to found the Chaddsford Winery with her husband Eric, where she turned her pen to promotion, advertising, public relations and marketing of their successful business venture for 30 years. Last year Lee co-wrote the new wine book, “The Vintner’s Apprentice” with Eric, and retired from the Chaddsford Winery to pursue other interests. She is currently working on a book about her life in the wine industry and exploring the retirement life. Her goal in writing a column for Chadds Ford Live is to generate dialogue and elicit reader response.
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