Retiring Reflections

I’m finally getting to truly experience what retirement life is like and I gotta tell ya, it has a lot to recommend it. As I’ve written about earlier, both my Favorite Panamanian and I were so busy after January 1^st that I didn’t get a real sense of retirement because I was working harder than I had in years. The last few days have more than met the required definition of retired life. We don’t even own an alarm clock and I can stay up as late as I want without concern about what I’m facing the next day (outside of my wife of course). I guess this lifestyle could get old, but I think that will require decades and I probably don’t have that much time left anyways. Several people warned me I would struggle with the lack of activity in retired life. That has turned out to be completely false because I fill the day with things I like doing versus have to do. I’m finally getting back into the best shape I’ve been in since I left the Army and reading whenever I want to (which is a lot).

Sunset Yesterday

I Think the Word You're Looking for is, Wow!

Beach This Morning

I’ve posted another couple of photos from yesterday’s spectacular sunset. I know this may seem cruel to those living in the polar vortex back home, but it is done out of the fervent hope it motivates you to come visit us in Panama. We’re looking forward to our first visitors tomorrow, a couple members of the DC chapter of the Panamanian Mafia. You can ask me to stop posting pictures of this paradise. You can ask, I won’t stop, but you can ask. We’re rerunning back up the coast to David today to take my mother-in-law out to lunch and then hit the grocery store again. The few days here have revealed some gaping holes in our initial supply run.

A Friend Posted this Today and I Laughed Out Loud
My Generation Gets the Joke Immediately

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RECURRING CHARACTERS                                           

BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn