A Typical Day

What is your typical day like? It should be what is the typical day I’d like to have. Something either is broken and needs attention, someone calls and needs a favor, a health problem rears its ugly head and needs attention, and you can add yours. The only thing that is regular is my bedtime, in and out. These are 5:30-6:00am and 9:30-10pm. Naptime is about 2pm for half and hour when I can, usually 3-4 times a week.

Mornings start with phone calls. Since the East is 3 hours earlier, I call my time up to 6:30am, Midwest up to 7am. I have very few Mountain states calls. Sally and I take our blood pressure, pills and a glass of juice and a glass of water. About 3 times a week we go to the gym for an hour and come home for breakfast.

Computer time takes about 6-7 hours a day. There are the emails, to read and answer, articles for Der Bay, updating Der Kalendar on the website, working on the upcoming Yiddish Club conference, writing the blog, researching on Wikipedia, and working on the databases.

Being visually impaired means that I spend a substantial time on SMCCB activities, for I’m pres of this county chapter, and take care of the website.

Since Sally has become very active at our shul, naturally it means that I am her support staff on the computer and helping each week with preparing the very elaborate Kiddush.

We have a mixed blessing. Since all of our children and grandchildren are in NJ and FL we do no babysitting, go to no school plays, do not watch them play in ballgames, do not help them with homework, and do not celebrate holidays together. Since we have all of this free time we can do other things. That is why I call it a mixed blessing.

Wednesday night is the highlight of my week. That’s when we have Yiddish class in our home. There is a very remarkable group of men and women sitting around our kitchen table reading Yiddish articles, stories, etc. Class always starts with a short session of getting caught up with the unusual things that happened to us or in the news.

Stop and think of your days. Are you taking your retirement plans seriously? Are your hobbies an important part of your day? Do you sit around watching TV and putting on weight? Whatever it is, I hope you are enjoying it. My early retirement meant that we could come out to sunny California and I can go from hobby to hobby enjoying myself. These have been the best years of my life. Many wonderful friends and a few wonderful acquaintances.