Retirement: The land that time forgot

Before I retired I had always said that when I got the chance to retire one of the things I would do first would be to free myself of being tied to an alarm clock.

As a child we were always made to go to bed by 8 PM, year 'round--even during summer when my head would be hitting the pillow while the sun continued to shine outside. 8 PM, that was our bedtime, come hell or highwater.

Over the period of my life, with that 8 PM bedtime drilled into my brain, not to mention my subconsious, I was always in bed at a "decent hour." Some folks have really fantastic goals on their bucket lists; mine, not so much,  I just wanted to be able to stay up past 10 PM without feeling like I had a bomb ready to explode in my head.

Retirement has come at last and I no longer have to wake up at an ungodly hour to prepare for the work day. One of the first things I did when I got home on my last day of work was to SHUT MY ALARM CLOCK OFF! A sense of freedom and excitement rolled over me. Could I really do this? Could I live a day without time parameters?!??!

The answers is a sold YES! YES, I CAN!

With no alarm clock to wake me every morning; with no work to keep me awake every afternoon I have taken to waking up at about 8:30 AM, laying in bed watching TV till about 10 AM, taking a late afternoon nap, say, oh about 5:30 PM and then hitting the hay sometime after 11 PM (sometimes even 3 AM). What can I say, I am just one of those people who needs a lot of sleep. Always have been, but now I can sleep when my body tells me, not my boss. I can nap without worrying if I'll get that tremendous urge while sitting at my desk the next afternoon.

Oh, and another thing, I cannot keep track of what day it is. Sometimes I lay in bed and think, "well, let's see, I went to church yesterday, so today HAS TO BE Monday." Then I think of my old co-workers, grin a little grin, and either get up, or roll over and go back to sleep!