Observations on getting used to being one of those gray-haired retired people

“I Not Need Yo’ Help” with my Hummingbirds

Lisa Renee'

October 27, 2023

We’ve been busy experiencing the retired life and I must say, I think I’m getting the hang of it. I’m a little surprised at how quickly this has come to feel “normal.” I never fail to have gratitude for being able to experience it. It’s amazing how you cannot fathom tolerating things you tolerated while working, but you did it, or I know in my case, I did it because I felt like, “Well, suck it up because you don’t have the ability to leave yet, so dig in and deal with it!” When you know you DON’T have to deal with it any longer, it becomes another story.

Last week our retirement adventure was trying various hamburger places for lunch (The Fisherman’s idea.) I’m not talking about going to a restaurant that serves a lot of different things and just ordering a hamburger, but going to places that hang their hat on their burgers. The ones touted and featured for their burgers. It was fun and The Fisherman was REALLY excited about it. Me?–I love to go out and eat breakfast so I’m going to suggest our next round of culinary visits need to be in search of a great omelette.

The rain and cooler weather has arrived here in the Pacific Northwest and the forecast is predicting our first frost over the next couple of days. That brings me to my obsession that I’m indulging in now that I’m retired, although I was pretty into it, or “them” before and that’s Hummingbirds. Does that sound like a full-on “Old Person” thing or what? I’m an animal fanatic anyway so it’s no wonder birds fascinate me and especially Hummingbirds. I first was introduced to them when I was a kid. We were visiting someone who owned a Christmas Tree farm and they had this beautiful home up in the woods with a Living Room that had a wall of windows and outside those windows hung a line-up of Hummingbird feeders and that’s when I first became fascinated by them. I have two feeders outside our kitchen window and one that we can watch at the front of the house outside our Living Room window. I also have a chart I refer to for how frequently to change the nectar based on the temperature outside so that no bacteria builds up that can impact the birds’ tongues. That mold eventually kills them because their tongue swells and they cannot eat. Last night, knowing we could get frost, I brought the feeders in so they would stay warm in the house, then on those nights I make sure I get up early the next morning so I can have the feeders back outside by sunrise when the birds begin looking for them. Here in the Pacific Northwest we are lucky to have many hummingbirds stay year-round and not migrate away. I’ve been told some leave us, but others stay and even if we get snow, we don’t get so frigid that they cannot survive, but they DO rely on us who keep our feeders out more than ever. I’ve seen people on Social Media who live in other parts of the country lamenting that their Hummingbirds are leaving to migrate to a warmer climate.

The one feeder I have my sister gave me as a gift. Well, she’s actually given me two as gifts, but this one is the more unusual one that you don’t just find everywhere:

It’s from a company called Peter’s Feeders, http://www.petersfeeders.com and I’m not getting anything from the company, I just think they make a great hummingbird feeder the birds love and they have great customer service, so if you’re into hummingbirds or feeding birds in general, check them out!

So here I was this morning while it was still dark, making the nectar and filling the feeders so breakfast could be served when the sun came up. Getting the feeders outside without spilling sticky syrup all over takes the steady hand of someone who could easily detonate bombs. Seriously. Here I was, barely awake, feeders full of the sugary mixture, trying to carefully walk outside while not tripping over 3 bouncing dogs. In those tense moments in movies where they are being careful while deciding whether to cut the red wire or the green wire on the bomb they should add some bouncing dogs in the mix for extra drama. The Fisherman was in the Living Room having his morning coffee and while he didn’t say a word, I’m sure he was wondering why I was going to all this effort for birds, but he’s used to it. The other bit of humor can come when I make it outside and hope that I can successfully stand on my toes and not spill everything while reaching the hooks where the feeders hang. I CAN do it, but The Fisherman would believe I should ask for his help, but he won’t always be up early when I want them to go out, so it’s up to me to S-T-R-E-T-C-H my reach. He calls that me being stubborn. I disagree, of course. My parents made sure they told him the story of when I was a wee toddler and they would try to help me do something and I would defiantly stomp my feet, clench my fists at my side and yell, “I NOT NEED YO’ HELP!! I CAN DO MYSELF!!” I still believe that and the only thing is now I would correctly pronounce “your” rather than “Yo” and I would include “it” after “do.” Any time I do something The Fisherman believes he should help with, he goes, “I know, I know: You NOT NEED my help, you can do YO-Self but humor me, I’m here to help.” I DO ask for his help if I really think I need it, but I’m stubbornly independent……kind of like those hummingbirds who refuse to migrate. If I were a hummingbird I would probably figure I could stay in the Pacific Northwest and find my own food. I would need YO help with a feeder, though.

But I Don’t WANT to do ANYTHING!

Lisa Renee'

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October 15, 2023

Interesting behavior I’m noticing in myself now with only being about a month and a half into retirement. It’s kind of a rebellion against having to do things—ANYTHING. Granted, there’s really not much that I “have” to do anymore. Yes, the dogs need to be fed each day, there’s general cleaning, laundry, that stuff and I’m fine with all that. No, it’s more like things that just come up to do. It can really be nothing much. It’s just a case of: If I’m expected to do it, even something I agreed to do, in my head I’m like a toddler who needs a nap, who dramatically starts slogging along, dragging their feet, whining, and I’m saying, “I HAVE to do THIS today!” I have no doubt this will pass, but right now, I’m giddy when I look out into the day in front of me and there is absolutely NOTHING I have to do so when something pops up, cue my toddler brain.

This past week I DID get to experience one of the days I was waiting for when I envisioned retiring. I like to cook, bake, etc., and I’ll be honest: I did NOT relish doing it on weekdays while I was working. On a Saturday or Sunday, it was fine, but when I came home from work, I had zero interest in diving into anything that took a lot of time in the kitchen. I was fine with breaking open a bagged salad “kit” and that was about it. Lucky for me, The Fisherman, who has been retired for about 5 years already, likes to cook so many times he would have dinner ready and the house would smell amazing when I came home, or he would be quick to say he was going to go pick up something for us or we would go out, but I was alway prepared with fast options right out of the fridge, because I knew cooking anything major wasn’t going to be in my gameplay.

One of the visions I had in my head in relation to retiring was a cloudy, rainy day, when I could go into the kitchen in the afternoon and cook something great for dinner. Well, that happened this past week. Being in Oregon, I knew it wouldn’t take long to get such a day, and sure enough, October delivered one for me and I made breaded pork chops and scalloped potatoes, just like my Mom used to make. I had seen the long-range forecast so I was pretty sure that day would be coming last week, so I made sure I had all the ingredients. The Fisherman loved it and kept thanking me for the meal. That’s one of the great things about him: He expresses his gratitude well. Hey, he made sure I was fed all those weeknights when I was working, so I’m happy to finally get into the kitchen now to cook for him.

He’s delighted anytime I struggle to know what day it is. Often, he doesn’t know what day it is, and Type-A me, always working ahead and looking out into the future, never able to live in the moment (working on that now) would say, “How can you NOT know what day it is? Days still matter.” His response was, “Just you wait–Once you retire and weekends aren’t all that important anymore and you have no gauge based on the Monday you dread, or Friday that you’re waiting for, you’ll find out. You’ll eventually have a hard time knowing what day it is.” I told him I was SURE that would never happen. Well, to be honest, I have to pause and think a little, but I am bound and determined not to admit to him that I’m struggling with it. He will read this with great satisfaction. If I slightly question the day, he pounces on it, “See!! Ha! It’s starting to happen! I TOLD you!” For the most part I’m on top of it at this point. I will admit Fridays are really no big deal anymore and honestly that’s a little sad because I’ve always held Friday in such high regard. It was a special day. Well, not anymore. I also want to know what day it is so I can know that it’s Sunday because THAT is a day that is still somewhat of a novelty to me now in retirement. That “Debbie-Downer” dread that would develop on a Sunday afternoon when that reminder would come in that the weekend was almost over and Monday and a new work-week is ahead is so fun to bat down. I’m aware it’s Sunday and retirement is still new enough that my mind will go, “It’s Sunday afternoon…….” and then I snap out of it and think, “Who cares?!” It’s a great feeling and I wish for all of you to get the chance to experience that someday.

The other thing The Fisherman told me I would get to experience was how many times the dogs have to be let outside each day. He said, “YOU are going to get to experience what I deal with everyday.” Boo-hoo. Of course, he likes to remind me that most of the dogs are under our roof because of ME and he’s right about that. It’s not an exaggeration though, that you don’t more than sit down and get situated, then along comes a dog who rings the bell at the back door (they are all bell-trained) and you have to get up and let them out and then let them back in. We have a one-year old dog who is also deaf, and I know for him a lot of it is he just wants to go out and play and it’s kind of a game. Of course he doesn’t hear the bell, but he quickly picked up on the idea that if he goes over and slams on this long thing hanging from the door knob, it makes the humans open the door. Equally, with his deafness, he THRASHES on those bells. It’s not a gentle nudge with his nose, oh no. It’s a full on slam, with his paws and then if you’re not there fast enough, he steps up the thrashing. It’s actually quite hilarious. But it never fails: You sit down and somebody rings that bell on the door. They do it, and when I sigh and get up, I’m sure The Fisherman is chuckling “I told her.” I just make sure that as I let the dogs out I know what day it is. Bwah-ha-ha! (insert evil giggle)

Maybe I WILL Have Cake For Breakfast At 11 a.m.

Lisa Renee'

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October 8, 2023

I’ve realized my goal/thought that I would write every day may have been a bit ambitious and, after all, I don’t think my favorite newspaper columnists used to write a column every single day, so I’ve reconciled that in my brain. I thought I had my retirement routine down, I had “found my groove” and maybe I have: My routine is no routine. No timeline, schedule, no deadlines, no pressure. I wish I could have had my brain in this place while I was working, but that wasn’t how I rolled. I relish my morning routine: I’m a “Morning Person” and with dogs, it’s forced somewhat. They are so used to getting up early with me when I was working and they still have that schedule in them, but I really don’t mind it. Having nowhere that I HAVE to be makes the mornings great. I get up, get the dogs fed and let them out, and then they all are ready to go back to sleep but me—by that time I’m up and awake, especially on cold mornings when I get that blast of cold air in my face when I let them out. As a result, I make myself a cup of coffee and I have time to journal, meditate (yes, I do that and it does wonders) exercise, and catch-up on TV shows I like that aren’t The Fisherman’s cup of tea. Speaking of journaling, I have two that I write in. One is just 365 blank pages. Those pages are for what the Life Coaches call “Thought Downloads” or “Paper Thinking.” The other journal is one I set my sights on about a year ago and I finally took the leap and got it. It’s a 5-Year Journal. It’s produced by a company called Rustico and they produce a wide variety of leather journals, log books, and notebooks, among other things. I’m not getting anything for mentioning them, I simply love their products and their 5-year journal is fantastic and on sale right now. What I love about it is that they give you a prompt/question for each day, and the way the pages are designed, you will answer that same question on the same date each of the 5 years, so you can see how your response will change, perhaps, over time, so if journaling has been something you want to do, but it has seemed daunting, this is a great way to start with that daily question. I got mine and chose to start using it on my birthday so that I would be accurately tracking the next 5 years of my life and there was the option to put a custom message on the cover so I opted to go with “Lisa-60 to 65.” I cannot wait to write in it each day.

I’ve started going on walks through the neighborhood many mornings with our neighbor who has a Pug, and I go with our Pug, Coleman. One morning it struck me how much life has changed already since retiring last month: Here I was in the middle of the morning, walking on a sunny, Fall day, and I couldn’t help but think what I would have been doing in the past at this time of the morning at the office. Already, this morning walk seemed so normal and that *other life* seems to be fading away when it comes to considering what is “normal.”

The biggest thing to consider now in my morning routine is “do I eat breakfast early, am I even hungry, or will The Fisherman want to get up and go out to breakfast somewhere?” Yes, that’s about the extent of major decisions these days, and I’m realizing how much I like that. It’s a step beyond that realization that, when you’re an adult, you can eat cake whenever you want. In this case now, it’s do I want cake for breakfast? Well maybe I do. When will breakfast be? Not until 11 a.m.? That’s okay too!

The Apparent Evolution of the Ramen Noodle

Lisa Renee'

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October 4, 2023

I know I will never be able to predict where my brain will go with selecting a topic to write about and I like it that way because I can just go with whatever hits me as my mind wanders, (get it?—“Wandering Gray.”) The Fisherman will say that’s an understatement that my mind wanders, and that is a topic for another day.

Today’s topic is culinary in nature. The Fisherman and I could be described as “Foodies.” We both like to cook and we enjoy going out for a meal at places we discover. That also means we are always collecting recipes. Me, I tend to collect them in the form of cookbooks, but I also find them and collect them on Pinterest. One of my retirement goals has been to cook more and try some of those many recipes I’ve collected. The Fisherman, he also finds recipes and passes them along to me and gets excited about us trying them.

Now I’m going to get to where I rant and issue a warning: At least in my experience, I’m going to say beware of those so-called recipes you find on TikTok or posted elsewhere in the form of videos on Social Media. Especially the ones where they assure you measurements and amounts aren’t important, that you can just dump it all together in one bowl and bake it. Here’s my rant: Now that everyone has a smartphone in their hand, they apparently believe they are cooks because they can record a video of them dumping ingredients into a pan and throwing it in the oven for a guesstimated amount of time, then they post it everywhere on Social Media. Look, I get that some of them may just be sharing, but I also just retired from a position where I worked a lot with Social Media so I’m well-aware that there can be financial benefits to getting enough clicks and likes on a post and that’s what some of this is. Granted, to some degree it’s almost a “Buyer Beware” scenario, or more appropriately “Maker Beware.” If you venture forth with one of these concoctions just be ready for it to be a dud, and if you have an ounce of cooking skill within you and your inner Julia Child or Bobby Flay starts to tell you this mixture has some issues, follow your gut and add what your culinary brain is telling you to add or change.

The Fisherman found one of these, what I call “Dorm Room Experiments,” the other day on TikTok and said, “Let’s try it!” I should have known when the title was Ramen Lasagna. Hello? How hard is it to just simply make Lasagna? Well, when you’re a college kid on a budget or just a young person on a budget, with few cooking skills, that might not be so easy. Hey, even we old folks recall the days of eating Top Ramen on a budget. The only riff on them I knew of was one basic one I learned from my sister: You take a can of Cream of Chicken soup and make Top Ramen noodles and mix them into the soup (I need to make that for The Fisherman.) I can personally attest to how good that is, at least in my opinion, and back when I was scraping by in my first apartment, that combo fed me many nights, so I get it. This Ramen Lasagna, I can totally see how it came about: “Hey, I’m hungry for Lasagna, and I’m not sure how to make it, but I’ve got some Top Ramen Noodles so I’ll use them and pour on some marinara sauce, add some cheese, whipping cream, some pepperoni, more cheese, and throw it in the oven,….Oh, and I’ll film myself on my phone and post it everywhere on Social Media!”

I told The Fisherman I was game to try it, although I felt a twinge of guilt thinking of my Mom and her cooking skills that she taught me, and her great Lasagna that we ate on many Christmas Eves. We lost Mom last November and one my of treasures is the oak recipe box she put together for me a few years back with all of my favorite things she made. I just knew Mom was looking down on me going, “Lisa Renee’—Ramen Lasagna! You know better than that! Didn’t I teach you anything?! Just make real Lasagna!” Yeah, no matter how old you get, you can hear Mom’s voice shaming you!

As I saw this recipe that had no measurements/amounts, and I started putting it together, a voice kept telling me, “there’s not enough liquid to cook these noodles.” I KNEW I should have added something, like chicken broth, to the bottom of the baking dish to provide some added moisture to cook those Ramen noodles. Yes, there was Marinara sauce and whipping cream, but I still thought more liquid was needed. My culinary senses were right. While most of the noodles cooked, some didn’t. The Fisherman felt it wasn’t a total loss and even warmed it up the next day (that might have helped it.) He’s an adventurous good sport when it comes to cooking. Me? Well I guess maybe I’m an old curmudgeon. Like I said, I *get* cooking on a budget. I really do. Been there, done that, and bought the ramen noodles (and the Cream of Chicken Soup.) What I don’t get is thinking you have to record and post these videos and pass them off as legit cooking. Do they BELIEVE this is legit cooking? I get indignant I guess, for all of the great cooks I have known (like my Mom and grandmother) and the others I do know out there now really cooking. Those who pass on the recipes and cooking skills. I get giving cooking a try, I really do, but become a REAL cook. It’s not hard to learn. There are these things called books, cookbooks. Put down the phone and get a basic cookbook. End of rant and now I’m climbing down off of my box…make that case….of Top Ramen Noodles. You get a better deal when you buy them by the case!

Yes, But You Are 60 Now!

Lisa Renee'

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October 2, 2023

One month into retirement and I’ve noticed a number of things. First, it’s not immediately an easy thing to grasp. I mean, as I said many times leading up to it, it’s like that comedy line about skydiving: “Who jumps out of a perfectly good airplane?!” In keeping with that, my thought was, “Who walks away from a well-paying job with great benefits?!” I mean, I was blessed with a good income, benefits, AND a pension. It was a gig that took care of me well. I worked hard to keep it, and when you have to officially say, “I’m going to hang it up,” it was not easy to grasp the reality of what that meant. There was never really any doubt in my mind I would do it as early as I could. The Fisherman has a heart condition that got our attention a few years back and it made me realize the value of time. Do NOT wait to do things. To his credit and to the credit of his fantastic Cardiac team, The Fisherman has improved his health in a big way. But, as his doctor said, no matter what his vitals say now, he still has this condition, and always, technically, will and he will only stay ahead of it with the help of the doctors, the medications, and continuing to be disciplined with how he takes care of himself. That means time matters, so I knew I would retire as early as I could.

Second, the “vacant mind” as I call it, is also not an easy concept to take in. Not always looking out into the future and worrying about something else, seems so odd. “You mean, it’s ALL MY time? I get to decide everything?!” That is strange, but when you get to that first Sunday afternoon, and it hits you that you don’t have to start that “transitional thinking.” You know–where you go, “Okay, back to the office tomorrow: What am I wearing? Do I have a plan for lunch tomorrow? What do I have scheduled for this week?” it’s AMAZING to be free of that Sunday afternoon feeling! I find it a little sad that we have to retire to give ourselves that ease. I’m the first to say that I’ll confess to being of the generation that couldn’t find a work-life balance. Work consumed my thoughts most of the time. It always came first and being single, I could do that. Heck, when my mother had a stroke in the middle of a big work thing, I paused to think whether I really needed to go the hospital at that instant (A big THANK YOU to my colleagues who basically escorted me to my car and said, “You ARE going NOW! We’ve got this!”) The “Senior” colleagues I worked with and I all said we don’t know that we can honestly say the younger generations’ desire to have a work-life balance is wrong because we *get* it. We understand why they want it. They likely watched parents who didn’t have it. Our only question is: Can much of the business world survive that approach? It will be interesting to watch.

I also have experienced a few moments of guilt in relation to retiring. I know I’m so very blessed to be able to do it, and at times I’ve thought “Why me?” I know many cannot do it. At the same time, I will stand up for myself and say that I worked hard for it and tolerated a lot and sacrificed a lot. I gave it my all and happened to be in a position where I can retire.

My retirement “initiation” got a little bit of a slow start in that I had to have Mohs surgery for a Basal Cell Skin cancer spot on the upper bridge of my nose, just a few days into retirement in early September. Public Service Announcement here: Wear sunscreen, people! I’m very diligent about sunscreen, especially on my face, and even with that, I still ended up with something that had to be removed and I’ll admit that I wasn’t good about wearing sunscreen as a kid, teenager, and a young adult, so that’s probably what did it. I was very lucky: We got the spot removed early, and while I’m sporting about a 1-inch scar on the side of my nose, the doctors assure me that scar will fade in a year.

Speaking of doctors, that appears to be one of the *things* about retirement: Medical tasks and check-ups become almost a “thing.” With my surgical procedure and follow-up, and with some things The Fisherman had to do with his doctors, added to us getting our flu shots done, we chuckled over how we had a week or two where we were going, “Now do you have anything this week with your doctors?” The Fisherman (who has been retired now for 5 years) said, “Welcome to my world: Doctors appointments liven things up. It’s a lot of doing whatever I want sandwiched between doctor visits.”

Overall, though, I’m getting into my groove. We have an older Pug, as does our neighbors, and we’ve gotten into a little routine where we walk the “Pug Boys” together through the neighborhood. It hit me the other day, “Here I am, just walking dogs in the middle of the day, not a care in the world, and it already seems so normal to me. I’m GETTING this!”

The Fisherman and I also did a fun retired thing where we went to this little town that is about a 45 minute drive away to sit outside of a Taco Truck and have Street Tacos one afternoon. Just a random weekday thing. Just us two retired people sitting at a picnic table in the middle of work-week eating tacos, again, without a care in the world. THAT is the type of thing I envisioned with retirement and we did it!

The other thing I’ve thought about in the first 30 days of retirement is being 60 now. 6-0. I turned 60 just before retiring so I was still getting used to it when I stopped working. Birthdays don’t bother me. Hey, think of the alternative: Not being around to have a birthday. 50 was fine. Had no problem joining the 5-0 club, but 60 does make you pause, or it did for me. There’s no beating around the bush: It’s 60. I don’t see that as middle-aged any longer. I get advertisements now for “Senior Living Centers.” Soon, I’m going to qualify for those restaurant discounts! There’s a 6 in the front of that age number now. I’ve found myself going, like while watching an NFL game: “I could be his MOTHER, maybe even his GRANDMOTHER! <INSERT GASP HERE>” Gone are the days of going, “That quarterback is HOT!” Well, they aren’t gone, necessarily, but now it just feels a tad weird when that voice whispers, “Yeah but you’re 60, 6-0, SIXTY.” But hey, if you’re lucky to live long enough, it happens.

Now back to Monday Night Football and silencing that whispering voice that tells me I’m 60.

First Chapter of the Next Chapter: Wandering Gray

Lisa Renee'

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October 1, 2023

You found me and thank you in advance for visiting my blog/website “Wandering Gray.” Let me explain how I got here to this blog–oh where here to begin?…..For 18 years I worked in Radio then I moved to a PR/Marketing position with a lot of doubts as to whether leaving Radio was the right thing since Radio seemed like “home” to me. I was a chatterbox and started in the Radio/Media industry at age 16 and never dreamed I would leave it after being blessed with a shot and someone taking a chance on me at a very early age. My Mother always said making a living by talking was something I was destined for. She really thought I should be on QVC/the Home Shopping Network but that’s a story for another day. Radio was far from offering job security, though, and I was a single woman worried about what my future would hold so I opted to leave that world for something that afforded me some security, higher pay, and a pension. Would I make that choice again? Not sure, but the past is not something to dwell on. I made the choice and that was that. I longed for that “creative” outlet, though, and with me loving to write, I began with some informal “blogging” on Facebook, then more of a “real” blog with something called “Life With the Lid Down” where I wrote about my hobby of showing dogs and what life was like as a single woman balancing a career, multiple dogs, and showing dogs on the weekend. I had plenty of writing material with that, believe me. I didn’t do a good job of keeping up with that blog, but friends would always ask me to get back to my writing, telling me how much they enjoyed reading what I wrote and how much it made them laugh.

In 2019 I had an idea for a blog and I launched “Midlife in the Fast Lane.” I was in “Midlife” myself and I felt there was so much about it that no one prepares you for, so I thought I would write about that and my own experiences to share with others going through it at the same time. Also, at about that time, I started working with a Life Coaching program and it helped me get my head straight on many things. I spent time working on me, goal-setting, etc. and didn’t find enough time to write, plus I realized that with the nature of my position at work and being a “spokesperson” for the organization, it was wise to not have too much of a Social Media presence and the blog was perhaps not the best thing for me to do if I had any intentions of it “going” anywhere and gaining any kind of momentum. That desire to write, however, never left me.

Well, midlife does travel in the fast lane, time flew by, and I retired as of September 1 of this year. I spent this first month of retirement, i.e. the last 30 days, getting used to things, and it does take some time to do that. When I retired, I had people say to me, “Please tell me you’ll get back to your writing.” My colleagues want me to write a book/screenplay based on what we all did together for the last 25 years, and that might happen, but my first sights were set on getting back to blogging. I had “Midlife in the Fast Lane,” owned the URL for the .com for that, so there was the website waiting for me, but I was struggling with relating to that now. While it was fine while I was actually IN midlife, now, at age 60 and retired, that didn’t seem to fit me any longer. Everything I read about blogging and “Side Hustles” was you should figure out how to monetize your blog/website, so I may have gotten overly fixated on that, and that slowed me even more because I had no passion for counseling someone related to Midlife, or writing a “class” to sell, etc. I just want to write. I know that’s my strength, or at least the words easily”flow from my fingers” as I always say. People told me in the past reading my writing made them smile and they looked forward to when I had a new post. It reminded me of, (I’ll date myself with this) opening the newspaper looking forward to reading syndicated columnist Erma Bombeck back in the “old days” when she chronicled middle-class life in newspapers across the U.S. Is there still something to that? Sure, it may not be a newspaper you pick-up from the front step in your slippers every morning, but is there still something in our human tendencies and needs that will make someone look forward to that morning cup of coffee, tea, bowl of cereal, etc. and opening that smartphone or tablet to read what amounts to a the old-school syndicated column? Do humans still NEED that and could find comfort in something like that? We shall see.

Okay, so in my brain I justified that it’s okay if I just want to write, that my writing is all I have to offer, but I struggled with how to make Midlife in the Fast Lane work with just writing about life as it is now, retired and 60. Then it hit me: I can start fresh with where I am now! I can come up with a new name and move past the whole midlife theme since I’m no longer there anyway. Suddenly it all made sense. I just needed a new name for the blog! That’s tricky because if you want a .com domain/URL you have to find something available. Hmmm, my hair is now gray, and I’ve already seen how retirement is a lot of wandering around experiencing what free time is like and, with a play on words and meanings, I’m “wondering” what is ahead in life, so there it was: Wandering Gray. I’m wandering AND I’m wondering, but we’ll stick with the “a” spelling because that website domain was available.

So here we are. One month into retirement officially today, and I’m officially launching Wandering Gray. I’ll simply be writing about life and my observations being at this age and retired. Yes, there will be stories about my dogs. Yes, there will likely be anecdotes about the man in the house, who will be referred to only as “The Fisherman” because that’s his passion now that he’s also retired and I’ll give him a little anonymity, unless you know us, then you know who The Fisherman is. I’m not sure if I’ll write in the mornings or in the evenings. Either way, I’ll probably post in the evening, so that I can envision people waking up to my latest post with their favorite morning beverage. Yeah, you won’t have to wander out to the driveway to pick up a newspaper like the old days with my favorite columnist, Erma Bombeck. Now you can simply follow along on your smartphone or tablet, but it’s a close second. You can still enjoy your favorite beverage as you read. Erma never had to worry about monetizing her column as she got a paycheck (that word was not really around and used back in Erma’s day,)and I’m not saying I’ll ever get to where I can monetize this but I will assure you that if I mention a product or service it’s just because I really like it and I’m sharing, and if the day ever comes that I get “underwritten” to endorse something, I will tell you, and I will only mention products or services that I believe in (can you tell that sales/PR person is still in me? That part of my brain has not gone dormant in the last 30 days.)

I’m wandering and I’m gray. It’s a whole new life and a whole new chapter.