What has 6 Saturdays and 1 Sunday every week? If you are already a part of the retired crowd this should come easy for you. It’s RETIREMENT! When I think of retirement I can’t help but think about the episode of the Andy Griffith TV Show where Howard quits his boring job as county clerk and becomes a Caribbean island beachcomber and was soon so bored he was going crazy as did all that came before him. Here is a short clip of that episode …

I can identify with that as when I got married I suggested that my new bride and I go to a lovely small quiet island in the Philippines to spend our honeymoon. It was where my wife was originally from. Her family still had a house there which no one lived in. It was all closed up still with most home furnishings inside which we could use to make the place livable. It was really nice for about 2 or 3 days but then boredom set in as we had already done about all there was to do on that small island and I wanted to go back to a place where more was going on so we packed up and returned to a more populous place … a city. All my life I had heard talk of beautiful Pacific paradise places and seen pictures and videos of such. Here is a picture of one of the beautiful white sand beaches of that island. where we spent part of our honeymoon.

I retired in 2009 after buying my Catrike Trail. I already had a plan. I was retiring from one job and going full time to another job … riding my trike. I continued to do that until two weeks ago today when my trike failed me. Needless to say, I really miss my job in retirement … riding my trike.

One thing I quickly observed in retirement is that every week I had 6 Saturdays and 1 Sunday. It was nice as long as I had something to do … especially something I enjoyed doing.  It seems that a whole lot of people can’t handle retirement and don’t last much past their start of retirement. I am glad I did not experience that. I have worked with guys who retired and were dead within 2 years. Many who retire end up going back to work … either back at their previous job or as a Walmart Greeter, stocking shelves in a grocery store, working at Taco Bell or similiar menial job. That’s okay I guess, but I much prefer my job in retirement. It doesn’t make me any money. In fact, it costs me a considerable amount of money just to do it. That’s okay. I can’t take it with me so I might as well use it enjoying myself. By the way, for many retirement is 7 Saturdays sd they have no Sundays. Christmas and Thanksgiving use to be the two most popular holidays in the United States, but no more. Now the two most popular are Halloween and Super Bowl Sunday. That is a sad testimony in our nation.

I don’t need a retirement calendar. A friend once was showing me his new toy … an electronic appointment book. His life was so busy and hectic he said he needed it and it was a god-send for him. He was trying to sell me on them thinking I really needed to get one. I chuckled saying that my life is quite simple … just the way I like it. I have no use for something like that. That was over 25 years ago long before I retired. Nothing has changed and that’s the way I like it.

When I was in the Navy I had a shorttimer’s calendar when I got within about 3 months of my discharge date. I enjoyed marking off each day as I got closer and closer to getting out of the Navy. There were people who teased and taunted me saying it will never happen … that I will reenlist and stay in the Navy. But I knew better than that. Some of those same people ended up reenlisting themselves and making a career out of the Navy. And a few of them surprised me.

As a civilian as I got closer to retirement I had a countdown calendar and marked off the days. I think I wanted to retire from my civilian job I had at the time  more than I wanted out of the Navy. I am sure that is because the last five and a half years I worked at a job I absolutely hated doing. Prior to that I worked at something I loved doing. I was self employed in my own welding business.

I want to apologize to you the reader for this post as obviously it has very little to do with tadpole trikes. The only connection I can make is riding during retirement. Now that I don’t have a trike to ride and have been taken away from the “trike scene” for over two weeks it has had a serious effect on me. Hopefully this won’t last long although it is obvious Utah Trikes is not as anxious to ship my new (to me) trike out to me as I am to get it.

16 days without a trike and I am already identifying with Howard …

OH ME! OH MY! OH YOU!

Whatever shall I do? I’d certainly like to know how long before my trike arrives. You see, I want to create a countdown calendar. Oh well, I reckon I will survive. Besides as is said … patience is a virtue and perseverance builds character. I gotta go get me some bongo drums.

UPDATE – –  I JUST FOUND OUT MONDAY 6-26 THAT MY TRIKE WILL SHIP OUT TUESDAY 6-27 AND I SHOULD RECEIVE IT IN 4 DAYS … SATURDAY OR MONDAY. NOW I KNOW BUT I DON’T KNOW IF IT HELPS KNOWING. I AM JUST PLAIN EXCITED!

UPDATE — 6-29, THEY LIED! I JUST RECEIVED AN EMAIL INFORMING ME THAT THE EXPECTED DELIVERY DATE IS THURSDAY JULY 6TH. THAT IS NEARLY A WEEK LONGER THAN THEY FIRST TOLD ME! HMMM, MAYBE MY CHARACTER NEEDS WORK ON IT.

KEEP ON TRIKIN’

A FREE GIFT AWAITS YOU!

TODAY IS THE OLDEST YOU’VE EVER BEEN, YET THE YOUNGEST YOU’LL EVER BE SO – ENJOY THIS DAY WHILE IT LASTS.

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“NORMAL” is not coming back … JESUS IS!