We have spent the past two days peddling some of our worldly possessions.
Retirement has given us time to do these things.
It’s also allowed us to catch up with friends and former colleagues who have stopped by to say “hey” while we’ve been sitting under the hot sun on our driveway.
Three of them came by today and my wife and I took time to visit and to learn about their lives and to tell them about ours.
One particular exchange is worth retelling here.
It went something like this …
We were talking about blogging. I told my friend that blogging occupies a good bit of my retirement time these days. “It’s what I do,” I told him, repeating a mantra I often give to friends who inquire about the things that occupy my time.
I told him the name of the blog likely will change once my wife and I pull up stakes and relocate down yonder, somewhere in the greater Metroplex region.
Then I mentioned how, since 9/11, I was able to live the editorialist’s dream. When I was working for a living at the Amarillo Globe-News, I faced the prospect of having to fill a large bit of empty space on the Opinion page. The editorialist’s dream that came true on 9/11 was that the pace of events became so frantic and so relevant that I never had to worry about how I was going to fill that space.
Indeed, the ideal situation for someone who writes editorials is to grapple with deciding which issues I could set aside for the next day — or beyond.
Since that terrible day on Sept. 11, 2001, I have had zero trouble finding issues to comment on.
That trend has continued every year since then. Now that I’m no longer employed, am retired and writing this blog, I find myself with an embarrassment of riches in topics to discuss. The cool part about it as well is that this blog has many wings to it: I call it a blog that comments on “politics, public policy and life experience.”
As I told my friend this morning, ever since the most recent presidential campaign, my list of discussion topics has grown seemingly exponentially.
It’s the “life experience” topics — such as this “Happy Trails” series of blog posts — that give me the most pleasure.
Retirement also has unshackled me. I’m now free to speak my own mind, lay my own bias on those who read this blog.
Much more to come. I promise.