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RETIREMENT

Just another work day

By CJ FlanneryPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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RETIREMENT
Photo by Maxime Agnelli on Unsplash

Ah, retirement, the “Golden Years,” the time for rest and relaxation, days filled with cruises, tours, card games and 4 pm dinner time. Your reward for a lifetime of hard work.

A lifetime in which I have worked as a file clerk, typist, receptionist, secretary, administrative assistant, deputy recorder, affirmative action/EEO officer, waitress, property manager and welfare caseworker. I have done data entry and telemarketing, sold insurance, washed dishes, dug ditches, painted apartments and, quite literally, shoveled shit.

But the fact is, I have worked harder since retiring than I ever did during my working years when I often held two or three jobs to support my family. And dinner is rarely before 7 or 8 at night, I eat after the animals have been fed and bedded down.

Nine years ago, I retired and bought an acre of land. After 50 years of big city living, living in housing so tightly packed that you could look out your dining room window into the bathroom window of your neighbor, an acre of land sounded like all the land one person could ever need. I couldn’t imagine ever needing more.

My plan was to start a self sufficient homestead. So immediately I got chickens, then tried to figure out how to build a coop. They say chickens are a gateway bird, and so they are. I now have turkeys, geese, ducks, horses and goats. Next, I put in a garden, and the deer ate it all, which is why I now know how to put up a fence.

It has been an adventure learning to care for these animals, feeding and watering them everyday, building shelters, coops, houses and runs for them. There was laughter and excitement when the first rooster crowed, the first hen laid an egg; and there were tears with the first injury, the mystery illness and burying so many birds. It has been a real learning experience.

I’ve also learned to butcher animals for meat, drive a tractor, paint, install flooring, and preserve food. Along the way we have given away or sold to our neighbors newly hatched chicks, laying hens, a couple of turkeys at Thanksgiving. I can’t keep the cooler full when the hens are laying, the eggs sell out daily and people are on a waiting list to get some. Even the produce from the garden goes quickly; who doesn’t love freshly picked vegetables and fruit?

Being a homesteader is not the only one job I have in retirement. I am also an ‘on-call mother.’ I step in when the working moms find their schedules overloaded. One of the grandkids needs cookies for a bake sale, mom calls me. Somebody needs a ride but mom can’t leave work, I get called. A sick kid, homework help, correct spelling of a word, I take the call. Advice on a sick animal, pet sitting, house sitting, Girl Scout leader, these are all skills people need and I provide.

While I love doing things for my family and neighbors, my biggest joy comes from sharing what I have learned. I have a list of skills my grandchildren are expected to learn, everything from construction technology to mechanics to food preservation, even learning to drive a stick shift.

The kids used to laugh at me, they thought I might be a bit touched in the head. Maybe they are right. But when the microwave broke, who knew how to cook, reheat food, even make popcorn on the stove? Lost button, guess who they asked to teach them to sew. When I got a frantic phone call that someone had split her zipper and was due to give an important presentation in five minutes, I had a quick fix to get her through the meeting. And that weekend she learned to replace a zipper rather than throwing the skirt away..

Many of my skills come from my own childhood, from my mother, father and grandmothers, from a time before microwaves, drive throughs and food delivery services, before the internet, a time when we didn’t have disposable everything.

Young adults often call me “Boomer” in a derisive tone. But I accept the name with pride, because when the chips are down, I know with my old fashioned skills, I can rely on myself. And if all goes according to plan, I will pass these skills on to another generation so they can be just as reliable.

Short Story
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About the Creator

CJ Flannery

I have been writing for over 50 years, just now getting the nerve to share my work. Be gentle in your critiques.

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