Today I take my husband to his heart specialist about 40 miles from here.....That is our closest big town, where we go to the Doctors, Eat Out, kick up our heels, shop, etc.......It is a nice drive, and a very pretty drive....I've been making it 42 years, and someday we say we will move there, but....we are still here, because here, is home to us. Our Church, our friends, and where our kids grew up....
My husband plays golf every day, and he would miss his ol gronies very much. As long as he can play, we'll stay here.....As long as I can drive 40 miles to tge Doctors, we'll stay here.............Gotta run cookies to our Church, as VBS starts today, and take some food to a friend that broke her leg jumping into her pool to get her grand daughter.....That is another story altogether, and try to find something to put on this fat ol body.....Oh Boy!!

When I drive thru our little town, I will notice all the closed businesses, and the homes that have been neglected, and the No cars on the streets.............In the early 80's our steel plant layed off 6000 employees, and our area went from booming to Let's Get the H__l out of Here...... overnight.....
The schools are closed for summer, and I will drive by the one I spent 22 years in.......Loving every minute of it, but I gave all I had, and had to come to the house..........This is my first summer retired, and I just fill like I'm out for vacation.... .. ......Alot of our kids live with their grandparents.........School is very different here from years past. Of course enrollment is way down.......
Divorce hit an all time high in the 80's, and many kids don't even bother to marry now......My husband and I both went thru divorces in the 80"s. His wife got out when his business fell off drastically,(dentist) and mine just decided I was not what he needed anymore. We had just opened a Farmers Insurance Agency two years before the bust........He and a married woman from our Bank both got divorces and left here. Every body left here that could. Our goal in life, was to make sure our kids got out....And believe you me they did......One is in NY, one in Northern Ark., and one about 80 miles from here. Thank God the girl did'nt go further.......Education got them all three out.......They love to come home tho...............
We have weathered the storm so to speak, and stayed the course, and get alittle blue when we remember when, but all in all, we are where we want to be...........

I really have this thing figured out...Retirement that is....You just do what ever you damn well please....OK, I can do this....My husband has been doing it ever since I met him....Can't be all that hard.....Fact is, I don't know any MEN that don't do it...So, I KNOW I can........I just have to get a grip on how to get ahold of the frigging remote...........

It came quite suddenly...I was prepared for it, yet, I was alittle anxious about it.....You see after 22 years as a Teachers Assistant, I RETIRED.... This was not the only job I had since puberty, but it was the only one, I really loved, except, the convenience store one....And that was just from 4-9pm for about three years or so....Anyway, I'm home now, with my husband, who plays golf every single day from 9-2 like clock work.....Thank God for Golf.......I love being home......

My children live away. One (a dtr) with the beautiful baby boy, lives 80 miles, and my baby boy lives in Brooklyn, NY.......I miss them both, and talk or see them quite often......I got to stay with my precious GrandSon for 11 weeks after my dtr, his mom went back to work....She teaches, and got to stay home with him for 10 weeks. I traveled to her and her sweet husbands home on Mondays. Left at 5am, and returned to my husbands on Friday evenings. It was hard, but truly fun and so worth it......So now I fully fill retired.

Now what......I've cooked a bunch, and I'm fat as a cow.....I've worked in my yard until I've just about got it like I want it, despite the draught.....and I've gone to the Library, and checked out books, and next will be to go visit my 95 year old Mom in the Hill country....She still lives alone, and cooks for the elderly, and our Christmas and Thanksgiving Dinners....A character. Writing a book, and has been for a number of years......

If anyone is reading this, I could use some new hobbies......My husband thinks, I really need something to do other than pick on him...He is soooo pickable......