So what do you do all day?

I had the chance to "retire" early from Ball State at the end of November. It seemed like a good idea and one that I had been considering for some time, but never thought it could be a reality. But working in a full time position, caring for David as a single parent, and keeping a yard, dog, and house going all at the same time was overwhelming some days so thankfully my dream worked out.

The funny part is that I must look way younger than my driver's license indicates, because I quickly learned that saying "I'm retired" produced an instant quizzical look from almost everyone. I soon discovered saying "working from home" was much more acceptable.

Now the latest question is, so what do you do all day? Surprisingly, quite a bit! While the pace is no longer set at a race, I've managed to fill up every day, and not with naps and Young and the Restless.
Soon my five month anniversary of working from home will be here, and it's been an adjustment, but it's been good. Here's a few things I've observed:

1 - Career change. This has given me the opportunity to really try a career change -- teaching. My master's degree is a few years old and I just never had the guts to try it out...and I love it! It's hard and extremely time consuming to grade 26 three to five page papers (much more time consuming than I imaged) but I hope that I give as much as I get from the students in the classroom. In fact the week before spring break I was trudging into the office and said prayed that God would reveal that if I'm supposed to be doing this, then he should give me a sign. Within five minutes the answer to prayer was in my inbox with a "thanks for being one of my favorite professors" email.

2 - Volunteering. Before David, I had time to volunteer at church and in the community. But the time for volunteering was too much of a luxury for the past five+ years until recently. Now I help out in one of the kindergarten classrooms in the Muncie schools. I'm not sure who was blessed more...me or the children or the teacher. Last week when I arrived I heard a whisper, "She's here!"

3 - Women's Bible study. I've had the chance to do this every Tuesday morning and WOW--what a group of spiritual leaders! We've been working through the book The Circle Maker and it's just been an amazing experience to be in the presence of these godly women. We encourage and support each other and this has really helped me grow as a person and in my faith.

4 - The no stick zone. There are no sticks in my yard. Or my neighbors' yards. And I've already mowed once and half of my mulch is down. Enough said.

5 - Joy of the school bus. I was a bus rider all of my school years and nearly every day my mother greeted me at the door and wanted to know about my day. Now I get to know the joy that comes from seeing the yellow bus pull up to our house Monday through Friday. It's good stuff.

6 - Quilting. I've finished the binding on a quilt, cut out a new one, and am working on a bag for my laptop. It's been a long time since I've been able to work more than a few minutes on a sewing project, and its nice to be reacquainted with several UFOs.

7 - Cleaning out. There aren't too many closets and drawers left to clean out. So far I'm up to four trips of donations to the Muncie Mission or Goodwill, and it feels good.

8 - The dog. We walk almost every day and when I'm at home, she doesn't have much of a chance to sleep. Now we both sleep through most nights. And we're getting ready to re-take the Therapy Dog test so we can visit in the community. Oh, and no more "accidents" on the carpet.

9 - Eating in. We ate too much fast food (or I skipped meals) on a fairly routine basis, but now I'm learning to cook again. David has been helping in the kitchen, and I have enjoyed teaching him a few things that I would haven't taken the time to do in the past. Hopefully this can be a life skill for him too!

10 - Photo books. I didn't have (or take) the time to make scrapbooks or photo books for David as he grows up. I finished his life book in the fall, but there are five more years waiting. So I'm working on the next one now and really enjoy it. It's a gift for our kids to know who they are, so they can figure out where they're going. Now to keep up the momentum!