At Last, My Beginning

     Surprisingly, my last few months of work dragged by.  It was like time slowed way down as I continued the drudgery of a demanding work schedule.  This all ended with a whimper early on the morning of Wednesday, November 25, 2015.  I went to work in the wee hours of that morning, ran the lab, and left at 0631.  Like John Boehner as he resigned from being Speaker of the US House of Representatives,  I sang "Zippity Doo Dah" and went around bidding my farewell to all the areas in the Kingport, TN Wastewater Plant.  As I walked out of the lab for the very last time, I snapped this photo and caption:

 

             Peace out!  

I then joyfully got in my car and drove home.  In a couple of hours husband Greg and I were headed to Ohio for the Thanksgiving holiday.  I posted the picture and caption on Facebook and messaged it to some former co-workers and friends who are not on Facebook.  I enjoyed getting various responses from people. A few friends thought maybe I was being discharged from a hospital because of the background of the lab cabinets.  I was truly being discharged from many years of working and joyfully putting that "illness" behind me to enter a life of renewal, creativity and health.   

      So today is the first post-retirement day at home since we returned from our Thanksgiving travel just last night.  And last evening I watched television with Greg until about 2300 and retired to bed with him instead of feeling pressured to retire earlier because of work.   I was up a 0400 this morning, enjoyed a 20 minute meditation. And now I write in this blog, reflecting on my new life.   

      Here is  my list of interests and projects. They are listed randomly with no attempt to put them in order of priority or importance.

     Spending time with family, especially River and Mom Kay.

     Beekeeping

     Gardening

     Keeping books

     Fixing up rental house

     Cooking

     Changing to healthier eating using Nutri-bullet and things Chris M. has provided

     Writing

     Meditating daily when at all possible

     Traveling

     Skiing when there is snow

     Tidying up (Refer to The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo)

     Reading:  Euphoiria

                      The Science of Mind  by Ernest Holmes

                      The Secret of Instant Healing by Frank J. Kinslow

                      and other books as they come my way.  

That is my list as it popped out of my keyboard here.  I will definitely declare the top priority and really the only true priority in the whole list to be "Meditating"  because that is the control room for guiding all the other activities.

     Last night upon arriving at the the mailbox which contained almost a week of mail, I found a most welcome letter from Kovilo Bhikkhu:  

           

     Kovilo's letter inspires me today to keep my priorities straight by practicing meditation for the purpose of obtaining guidance to obtain perfect balance, peace, and graciousness.