Goofin’ Off

I’m not sure how I ever found time to go to work before I retired.  I’m busier than a one-armed paper hanger right now.

Yesterday – I was heading out the door on a well-planned series of errands when the phone rang.  (Remember – the Mystery Guest Blogger is visiting her mother in Ohio.)  It was the MGB’s brother.  He had been working around his house and wrenched his back so badly he could not sit or lie down – and certainly could not drive his car.  I drove to his house, and we finally got him in my car, but only after a lot of pain.  He was hurting.  After dropping him off at the clinic, I was off to do my delayed errands.  I had to get a new retiree ID card from my old employer, so I spent ½ hour at the University of Texas-Pan American.   The ID picture is ugly – a normal outcome of my portraits.

Lunch with some of the folks I used to work with.  They keep me young – they are smart, ambitious, and personable.  Just as I was eating the last crumb of food, the mobile phone rang, and I was off to pickup the brother-in-law and get him home.  He wasn’t hurting quite as bad, but the muscle relaxing drugs gave his speech a bit of a slur. 

Then, I drove to the other side of town pick up my pay check at the Progress-Times  newspaper where I do freelance sports photography.  This is a slow time for high school sports, but I still get the occasional assignment, such as covering the signing of high school athletes to college national letters of intent.  This young man’s mother and sister watch him sign to play football at Texas Lutheran University. 

I really wanted to get home to see if I won an eBay auction for a new lens I wanted for the upcoming high school football season, but I had to go see Mom first.  That is always a special time as it forces me to slow down a bit.  Her world is very very different from mine, and I have to concentrate to connect with her.  A visit usually entails talking a walk, and she often likes to go outside to the parking lot, despite the south Texas heat.  It was 97 when this shot was taken.

Remember lunch with the former colleagues?  One of the guys was a geographic bachelor like me, so we agreed to meet for dinner.  Would you believe two guys eating dinner – and we both ordered soup and salad?  Another image shattered, eh? 

I hadn’t been home since 9:30 in the morning, so then we went over to my house to continue the conversation.  We both are allergic to alcohol, so we drank St. Pauli Girl non-alcoholic brew and solved the problems of the world.

How in the world would I have found time to go to work with a day like that? 

Oh yeah – I won the auction for the new lens.

Comments

[Tom Murray]

Your description of your day is interesting. I can remember back in 1971, when I first returned home from Viet Nam, I made a day of getting a new handball, meeting a friend for lunch, going to the dermatologist to treat the horrible mess breaking out on my back that everyone now believes was caused by Agent Orange and then going to the YMCA to play some enjoyable games. My employed friends always laughed at what filled my days.

A fairly well off friend of my wife said to her, "I don't know how people work. You don't have the time to get anything done."

You get things done. Life is good.

[Sam]

Perhaps, I just learn a lesson/experience from this blog, that when I retired, I will not advertise the event. Otherwise, I might become a "go-fer" for almost everybody, just like when I bought a used GMC van long time ago, to take my family go on vacation. The van was so huge that I called it "USS" Ventura (name of the van model), anyway - relatives and neighbor got the news and often either wanted to borrow or ask me to pickup mattress, furniture, etc... BTW, I never buy anything from Ebay, just from craigslist.org, paranoid I guessed - but it's more piece of mind & less hassle to buy/sell through the local. Have fun with your new lens, which I guessed it's another longer tele-zoom lens, right?

[MLW]

Well lets see. If you were not retired: First your bother-in-law would have had to call 9ll (you can't just leave work), lunch with friends worked into lunch hour, and all the errands would have been after 5:00 pm. like the visit to your mom. And yes you would have gotten them all done. Then a late dinner with colleague. And the St. Pauli Girl non-alcoholic brew would have had you in bed sleeping like a baby.

[James Tree Machin]

From a long time but now retired bachelor:

Advice #1. Get yourself one of those wide mouth toasters, cause the entire steak will slip in with ease. Even a nice thick juicy New York strip.

Advice #2. Just for fun let the MGB discover the toasters condition without telling her, and see if you can convince her that it’s the “Bachelor” in you.