A sunny day, saddle shoes, a group of bubbly kids on a school playground- do you remember jumping rope during recess? Two kids twirled the long clothesline rope as the girl who was poised and ready to jump in held her arms chest high and bobbed to the beat of the swishing rope. As she bounced into place and her pigtails swayed, we all started to chant:
If you remember that skipping rhyme, then you are like me and we both acquired our roadmap for life in the third grade. Like the directions on a GPS, we started on our journey with a boyfriend and K-I-S-S-I-N-G. At our first stop we found Love, a little further on the road of life we entered Marriage, and far off on the horizon we could see the Baby Carriage. The road was straight, wide open, no chance we could get lost.
Here’s what you and I are going to explore together in my blog. What is this uncharted area on our life road map called R-E-T-I-R-E-M-E-N-T? We didn’t sing about the R word on the playground.
As we traveled through the years we answered to Mom or Dad, Boss or Board Chairwoman, even Hon. But what will our new titles be now? We certainly don’t want to be called old. We want our leap into retirement to be thrilling. We want to thrive!
You and I, the eager kids on the playground, have made it to the penultimate chapter of our lives. Is this a time for freedom or fear? Will we embrace new experiences and play again with joy on a sunny day, or will we sit on our front porch and watch others drive down the road of life? Or will we do both? Our rhyme from our recess days got us this far, didn’t it? It’s time to write the next verse to the skipping song and jump into retirement!
(photos courtesy of 2nix and AKARAKINGDOMS at freedigitalphotos.net)
I am a writer, blogger, book reviewer, and bon vivant and encourager. I have lived my entire life in Tropical Ohio. My goal is to make friends with everyone in the world. I wrote a fiction series, The Golden Age of Charli, that presents the problems and praises, and the love and laughter of family life and retirement. My passions are blogging, reading and reviewing, and writing. My life is a WIP.