So now I am retired

I know. I know.

I skipped a whole bunch of years. But as you move closer to the present, my life mirrors the lives of many. Jobs, kids activities, vacations, family events, holidays, disappointments and challenges, hobbies, your first home, friends ... you know what all that looks like.

My retirement, though, is not what I thought it would be for a number of reasons.

We didn't anticipate medical surprises ... like my husband's decreasing vision. We didn't know that we would be caregivers for 3 elderly relatives. We didn't expect that being professionally successful as we were, we would find ourselves laid off from our jobs ... yes, we were both laid off around the same time in our late 50's, not the best time to get re-employed even in an up economy. This is not an exhaustive list of the unexpected ... but it is what I can share.

Life throws you curve balls, and you just do the best you can to catch them and move on.

Our lives have been blessed in so many ways. I hope I made that apparent in my brief blog posts of my past. To list all the positives would be more than this blog could hold.

I have enjoyed doing this romp through my history but I discovered a very disturbing fact ... I have way too many pictures that are in total disarray in the basement. To give you the scope ... I have the pictures we took (and there were tons), the pictures we inherited from my husband's grandmother, and his father, and his stepmother, and his mother, and let's not forget the pictures mom brought with her when she moved in with us. There are also a lot of historic family documents that need better care. The volume pictures and documents is breath-taking in its scope. And I am now the caregiver for that history.

So although I am done posting old pictures to the blog (for now), I am going to get serious about getting all that stuff in the basement organized and mounted.

It was one of my goals for my next 20 years and I have made very little progress.

Thanks for all the kinds comments regarding my pictures and stories. This was fun for me too. And it is important to look back at where you came from periodically, to take an account of what and who made you ... you, and reflect with gratitude on the many hands that helped you along the way.

I am grateful.