Several people think I am retired. Retired; who’s got time to retire? I still work, but now I have the luxury of putting my attention solely on what I want to do instead of what I have to do.
It must be the ol’ German work ethic in my blood that rubs the word “retirement” wrong way against my grain so I finally decided to look it up in the dictionary. Possibly I had a wrong impression of the word. I dug out our twenty-year-old Webster and started riffling though the alphabetical listings until my eyes landed on retire. Of the ten definitions only the last five were devoted to withdrawing from the workforce or advanced age. The first few actually impressed me as my current lifestyle: to go away, retreat, or withdraw to a private, sheltered or secluded place.
Well, you can’t really call being part of a Honduran neighborhood “secluded” but the months of no phone, limited internet and language difference did limit the number of people who tried to communicate with me. My Spanish speaking neighbors enjoy our short communications which have grown beyond weather and animals as my vocabulary has expanded. After years of doing what I needed to do for others I now put my wants first.
Since Honduras labor is so inexpensive we easily afford to pay a cook/housekeeper and caretaker a very good salary to keep everything in tip/top shape. Meanwhile I continue to study with my Mayan Elders, write, and learn from the Garifuna healers. Add to this some beach time, visiting with neighbors and traveling to the States to hold workshops and I stay busy doing the things I love.
You know, I kind of like this new career... this retirement thing.
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