What's changed?

What’s different? We are in to retirement zone for about a month now.  Its been pretty smooth although hubs and I do step in to the other’s territory a bit. There definitely are some adjustments happening.

   

He is enjoying the spontaneity of it all.  Yesterday, for example, he came out of the basement, which is how he has been starting his day, surveying his belongings in the basement, making a list of what to do next, and said “Want to do something crazy?” Caught completely off guard, I replied “Uh, sure.  What do you have in mind?”  Now, since I have the reputation of being the “crazier” of the two of us, I admit to being a little worried. Was this a challenge? Crazy is my territory, so only step in here if you mean it.

His idea was to drop everything and drive the hour and a half in to Chicago for the day.  A couple of stores to hit, that I have mentioned, and maybe lunch.  Alright, I said, I am more than game, give me 15 minutes, and off we go.

 

Now, hubs has never been big on driving in to Chicago for the day…certainly not on a whim.  Never to shop or browse, so for him, this was on the crazy side.  In the fog and rain so it wasn’t a pretty drive by any means.  It wasn’t totally aimless, he did have an idea of where we would go, but was open to just about anything I suggested.  We arrived, we shopped and we had a quick bite at a downtown spot, and made an uneventful trip back home.  Nothing earth shattering, no events to attend, just a bit of meandering here and there.  It was not the kind of day I would have spent in Chicago with “the girls” or my lady friends which would have included a show and cocktails in a hotel bar perhaps, but it was a good day.

I can take the spontaneity.  I am a bit more likely to jump than he is and we know that about each other.  I know yesterday was for me as much as it was for him to push his boundaries a bit.  After 45 years of structure it is a big change to have so many “free” hours.  We’ll get there.  We have started a list of places to visit, things to see, day trips to full on vacations.  I asked him yesterday if he wanted to go to an antique show in April, that starts on Thursday and would require some driving.  Instead of his usual “We’ll see”. (which, I’ll be honest, has driven me crazy for 40 years) he replied “Yeah, I guess we can do that, huh?”  Yes, yes we can.

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