Retired with a Reunion to attend

My high school class is having a 50 year reunion this weekend and I can't believe how excited I am getting.  I think most everyone likes to see old friends and tell the stories again, some of the stories are better now than they were a few years ago.  I volunteered to work on the committee and I am real glad I did that.  I had the time to do it, it was only about 10-15 miles from home and I got to meet old friends and talk about shcool and what we had done and what we were doing.  We all have changed a little and gottne older but when we get together we are young again and times are good.  The brain is a fantastic machine and seems to remember mostly the good times and fun things we did.  I many ways I know that the Good Lord was watching over me and had plans for me because I made it through some rough times and I am the better for it.

It is funny how you don't fear things or think about death when you are growing up, that's not going to happen to me.  As I look back and remember some of the people, and things we did in high school and in college it is a wonder that I am not dead or more messed up than I am.  I guess I was just enjoying the moment and not worrying about the consequences.  I am not saying that I came out clean with no bad days but I survived and hopefully learned from it.  I know that since I have been working on this reunion and thinking about seeing everyone again I remember those good days and know that there were bad days too.  I can not relive the past, my body wouldn't take it probably, but I can enjoy some of the great times as I remember them.

We have about 140 people coming to the reunion and that includes about 100 classmates from a class of about 200-250.  That is not a bad showing since some of us are gone now or live a long ways away.  Also it was difficult getting a hold of some of the people as they moved away and we lost contact with them and with the gals getting married and changing their names it made it even more difficult.  We got ahold of a lot of my class and it is funny how most of them are eager to attend the reunion and see old friends and classmates.  I know I have referred to my high school yearbook dozens of times in last six months.  I hear a name and have to look them up.  In some cases I don't even remember the name let alone the face.  It should be real interesting Saturday night when people show up and I try to recognize them, luckily there will have there ID badge on that will show their graduation picture and name on it because it has been 20 years since I have seen some of them and almost 50 years for some of the others.  I know I have put on a few pounds, actually only about 20-25, and my hair is longer but thinner and is almost silver now compared to full head of brown hair with a 'Butch cut' or "flat-top" as it was called then.

This is so exciting and with both the reunion and the Utah vacation coming up I have had a tough time relaxing.  It reminds me of the two kids in the 'Disneyland' commercial where the girl asks her brother if he is sleeping, he says 'No, I'm too excited!!!'  That is the way I feel.  Life is Good and I am So Blessed.

Retired and Free

I retired over a year and a half ago and I am still loving it.  At first it seemed to be nice not having a schedule to follow and running from here to there and back.  Now I realize that being free from many time restrictions is a blessing in many ways.  If I want to do something or go somewhere, I can, with in reason of course.  I have noticed that my time is somewhat scheduled though.  If someone says something about doing something or going someplace I have to check my calendar and see if I am free or can fit it in.   Freedom is such a great thing and wonderful feeling.

I can imagine it might be nice being able to do even more but I have to stick to my budget and stay within my means, so I stay close to home and enjoy.  I saw an article in a magazine that talked about vacations and short trips, it was called "One Tank Trips" and was just that.   It was a list of places that were within about 400 miles round trip.  It was a list of great places to go around the Bay Area.  I hadn't thought of a lot of the places and it is nice to be able visit some place new or revisit an old favorite place again.  Being retired with the free time and open schedule is nice to hit some of these on the list.  I call my gal friend and we just take off for the day or a couple days.  "Life is good".

Occasionally we go on big trips and those are great too, although they have to be budgeted and planned for.  We are going on a trip to Utah next week and we both are excited about that.  We are going to hit at least 4 of the National Parks and take lots of pictures.  We have planned some of it out and have reservations at hotels/motels around Utah but are not on a strict planned format.  We plan on seeing all the scenic sights and enjoy them as we go but since our time is more flexible we are not stressing out as far as doing everything if we don't want to or can't do.  I can remember a vacation when I was married and we took the kids to the Redwoods and up to Oregon.  I had it planned out almost to the minute so that we could see everything and be back in time for me to go to work in a week.  I was tired when we got back and I am not sure if anyone really enjoyed the trip.  Rush, rush, rush, hurry, hurry!!!!

This trip may involve a lot of driving getting to there and back but with both of us driving and with a couple books on tape and XM radio we'll be fine.  We have set it up so we have 3-4 days at each place and left it open ended as far as our return.  Of course we both want to see the beautiful sights and I want to take lots of pictures, maybe I we find that one and take the "perfect picture".   It may be that I will get up early to catch the sunrise photos, then go back to bed for a nap and then go for a walk and take a few sunset pictures.http://www.davesutherlandphoto.com/