So, This is Retirement

It’s taken me the better part of a year to figure out how I wanted to treat this whole “unemployed because I’m so damned old” scenario. In a statement that will probably surprise no one, I love it. I was worried that I’d miss being gainfully employed but I don’t. At all. I miss the people I worked with because I was always singularly blessed in that area. These sojourns on the beach have certainly sweetened the pot in the acceptance phase of being unproductive. I’ve fallen into a routine that I genuinely enjoy.

My View While Reading Each Day

The biggest change has been using the most of every morning to work out. It isn’t the pre-breakfast hurried routine from Army years either. The workout here in Panama is pre-breakfast because that’s before the sun isn’t at it’s most brutal then. (hope my dermatologist saw that). I’ve found that I enjoy the routine of a daily workout and miss it when it gets supplanted by more important activities. The rest of the day (that I control) usually involves reading, watching movies, or writing, all activities I treasure.

Local Vultures Dining on Some Seafood During Our Walk

My Favorite Panamanian has decided to join me for my morning beach walk, the last event of my morning workout. It’s weird because we literally spend most of every waking and non-waking moment together but these walks have greatly increased out conversational interaction. I mean we talk all the time but usually about minor and question/answer situations. Then there’s the phone and my wife’s almost surgical attachment to it. During these walks, other than taking in the spectacular scenery, we spend the time talking about a whole gamut of subjects. It has everything to recommend it and I get to work on knocking more rust off my Spanish.

Full Moon Out at Dusk Behind our Condos

I’ve read more in the last week than I have in a good month. I learned last year that instead of waiting for a favorite author to publish something new, it was fun to revisit old series that I hadn’t read in a while. Last year I read all the John D. McDonald Travis McGee novels. I’ve plowed through four Jack Reacher books in the week we’re been down here so far. I learned it is important to download the books onto the Kindle (even though I’ve had them for years) before leaving the States. There are arcane international publishing laws that add expense if I try to do the same thing here. Reading is also so much fun here because of the attendant view Las Lajas offers, including the occasional string bikini. Like I said, retirement, I think I love it.

Last Night's Sunset Was Too Beautiful to Confine to One Photo

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RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                      

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete - my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during him her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; 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; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course