Retirement

Today’s is Father’s last day at work for all time. That will bring the total number of parents I have who are retired to 2! Yikes. Feels pretty strange. Makes me feel kind of old but funnily enough doesn’t make me think my parents are old. It must be incredibly weird for them, imagine not ever getting up and going to work again. Imagine having to live off your savings! Both parents have been working longer than I’ve been alive so when you think of it in those terms it’s no wonder they’ve been encouraged to go to ‘retirement seminars’ to learn how to fill in their days now that their lives are finally about what they want to do and not about what someone else expects you to do at work. I know a lot of the time when I’m tired and grumbling through a work day I daydream about never having to work again but the reality would be quite a hurdle as well.

Mother finished work at Easter, and tomorrow they’ll both be home. Fighting over who gets the mail and who answers the phone! Mother’s been ‘tidying up’ apparently, Father will probably go searching for his favourite old checked shirt to do some gardening only to find it’s been ‘tided up’. Groan. Suppose I better tidy up our spare room as now they’ll have all the time in the world to come visit and clean my oven and fix leaky taps. Have to make them feel useful!

So I rang Father at work this morning, which I don’t think I’ve done in the last 18 years while he’s been in his current job, in fact the last time was probably when I was at high school and rang him when he worked at MAF, not that I can remember what I rang him for. Probably to borrow the car. He reckoned it was to ask for money!