Looking back

When I started this blog, I wanted to lay out and examine where I'd been, where I wanted to be, and how I planned to get there. I didn't want to get too technical, but thought maybe it would be a way to see what was happening by writing about it. Sometimes writing clarifies things and helps you see patterns you may not see otherwise.

What I've discovered:

1. I enjoy good health but have lots of small complaints. I should be more grateful.
2. I like to be busy and work hard, but also thoroughly enjoy my downtime.
3. I'm managing a full-time job and R's work as well. I never thought I could do that. I don't love having my evenings and weekends busy, but I'm looking at the big picture here (retirement income).
4. I pinch myself when I think of the nearly four weeks of vacation I now get a year. This is coming from eight days to look forward to at my old job. Having this much time really changes our ability to plan vacations.
5. I don't like to fly but I can do it. Which means we can also take vacations that are not within reasonable driving distance.
6. I'm not the most tolerant person regarding: fools, mean people, lazy people, right wingnuts. I never have been, but it's become even harder to keep quiet about it as time goes on.
7. As I approach 52, it's harder to remember my age unless I think about it. I have no idea why, but that brain lapse was inconceivable to me when I was a kid and my parents did it.
8. Grandkids are everything I thought they'd be. I love them so much it hurts my heart.
9. A good mattress is worth the hassle of getting it up and over the balcony.
10. I've yet to accept the extra 15 or so pounds that have taken up permanent residence. Maybe by the time I'm 60. Except by then it will be 25 or so pounds.
11. I can still make friends. Some of them are younger than my kids. Some are older than me.
12. A glass of wine is a wonderful way to end a day at work and start an evening at home.
13. Based on what I watch on TV, I could (a) flip, stage or design houses; (b) deliver babies; (c) diagnose mystery illnesses; or (d) work in a dysfunctional office.

Bottom line: I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam. And that ain't bad.