Retirement? Sounds good to me!

It is so amazing to see how vast God’s variety is, both of people and places He has created. I don’t think we will ever come close to discovering all the unusual creatures God has created and certainly during our lifetimes we can only visit a certain amount of places.

I love the ocean. It fascinates me. I can sit and observe it for hours and it constantly changes right before your eyes. We went to the beach yesterday while we are here in Florida. My husband stretched out on the warm sand just basking in the glorious sunshine. My mom and I sat on the sand watching the shore birds and sailboats and just enjoyed the wonderful breeze. My dad and my daughter Anne, walked along the waters edge looking for shells and shark teeth. They found several of each.

There are so many retired people here. It is fun to check out the different license plates and see cars so far from home and all drawn to the same warm location. It is always a hard concept to grasp to be with someone who is retired. I thought a lot about it yesterday.  You pretty much can plan your days and schedule as you please. For someone like my husband, who runs a business and pastor’s a church, this is a very strange phenomenon! I think going out to eat ranks high on the list of enjoyment for retired people in Florida. The restaurants are packed all day long! I’m sure it becomes a social event as the years pass.

As I was contemplating retirement, I just thought about the attitudes people possess as they reach this time of life. Many are grateful and love to share their experiences with you, a treasure trove of information. Others are bitter and in ill health and fail to see the goodness of God despite their circumstances. It is always a joy to me to sit and ask questions about a time period I can only imagine from someone who loved living their life!

My dad grew up without electricity or running water in a family of 7 children and it always makes me reevaluate my bad attitude when our power goes out! I feel like I can’t accomplish anything if the water doesn’t flow from the faucet and the light switch doesn’t yield light!. We have become so used to modern amenities and it makes it harder to truly appreciate all that we truly have been blessed with.

I am enjoying so much being here in Florida, not just the beautiful weather but just being with my parents and enjoying the things they enjoy. It gives me so much pleasure to see my dad’s excitement to take us somewhere he loves or show us something that makes him happy. These are the things I will treasure forever.

It is always so much fun to explore the different places that are so vastly different from home. Tomorrow we are planning, the Lord willing, to go the everglades.  I have always wanted to go and I’m so excited about taking that airboat ride through another of God’s magnificent treasure troves!