We got home two weeks ago today. Being at home in retirement presents very different challenges than travelling in retirement. I will return to this statement later in the post.
Two weeks ago we flew back from Budapest. We were--wait for it--exhausted. We had to get up early, make two connections (in Munich and Washington). Everything went fine til we got to Washington and had to wait about five hours for a late connection to Louisville. For me, flying west is always harder than flying east. Going east, you can arrive in the afternoon, take a nap, have dinner, stay up til a reasonable time and reset your body schedule. Flying west, it is daytime all along and when you finally get home you crash into bed and get uup way too early. And alongside jet lag comes the whole kit and kaboodle involved in returning home.
My retirement year is divided into three parts. One part is travel. Last year it was Budapest and Spain; this year Budapest and we hope the Baltic states. Travel is exhilirating, if exhausting, and there's not much question of how to spend your days. You're travelling! The second part is the lake. No problems there either. The days have a rhythm: walk with Cindy and the dogs, swim once it gets warm enough, work on my book, read, spend time with friends, etc. But Louisville is still a problem. I just don't know how to shape my days here. I do walk and spend time (coffee, lunch ) with friends (but not regularly). I do read and I WILL resume work on my book. But my life feels kind of shapeless. For example, here are my first two weeks in Louisville.
Susan and I went for a "looking for signs of spring" nature walk in Bernheim Forest, a beautiful arboretum outside Louisville. We have had a fairly cold March, so there were precious few harbingers of spring. Some interesting items, like a tree fungus, water drops on a spider web, and some geese.
Still it was a lot of fun to go out with Susan on a nature walk.
Tony and I saw two movies, neither of which we liked. The Shape of Water. Yes, we hated it. Pretentious, slow, basically boring. (We are obviously in the minority here, as it won the Oscar for best picture.) Then yesterday Red Sparrow, which we knew wouldn't be good (reviews stank) but it was filmed entirely in Budapaest, so we thought it would be fun to see the city on the screen. Looking out for places we recognized was the best (actually only good) part of the movie. This is how stupid. English speaking actors spoke English with Russian accents even when speaking with each other (presumably in Russian). Logically, they should have spoken Russian with subtitles or spoken regular English. It made no sense (as did the plot as well). Also the whole movie was shot in Budapest, even the parts that were meant to be in Russia. So if you have ever been to Budapest and visited the Museum of Fine Arts in Hero Square (a very recognizable site) you will know this is not the theater (it's not even a theater) for the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow. Similarly, if you have ever been inside the Budapest Opera House you will know you are not in Russia.
Okay, moving along. Other notable highlights.
We bought a new mattress.
We finished watching A French Village, the 7 season French TV series about a fictional village in Vichy France between 1940 and 1945 (with glimpses into the further future). By the way, this is a great series: morally complex in so many ways and utterly compelling.
I reconnected via email with my college roommate with whom I had lost touch many years ago. Writing and back and forth to her has been one of the real pleasures of returning home.
I read the last chapter of my last graduate student's dissertation and will in May hood my last doctoral student. This is especialy bittersweet.
The above paragraphs offer a list of things I am doing. (And it doesn't even include the vast amounts of time I spend reading magazines and watching MSNBC) But that list doesn't really cohere into a story--a narrative. In truth, I still haven't figured out how to be retired in Louisville. That's not to say that I don't like living in Louisville. I enjoy our condo, the movies, going out to eat, seeing more of Susan and other friends. But I don't wake up each day with any real sense of what I want to get done. Louisville is still the filler between travelling and the lake.
Two weeks ago we flew back from Budapest. We were--wait for it--exhausted. We had to get up early, make two connections (in Munich and Washington). Everything went fine til we got to Washington and had to wait about five hours for a late connection to Louisville. For me, flying west is always harder than flying east. Going east, you can arrive in the afternoon, take a nap, have dinner, stay up til a reasonable time and reset your body schedule. Flying west, it is daytime all along and when you finally get home you crash into bed and get uup way too early. And alongside jet lag comes the whole kit and kaboodle involved in returning home.
My retirement year is divided into three parts. One part is travel. Last year it was Budapest and Spain; this year Budapest and we hope the Baltic states. Travel is exhilirating, if exhausting, and there's not much question of how to spend your days. You're travelling! The second part is the lake. No problems there either. The days have a rhythm: walk with Cindy and the dogs, swim once it gets warm enough, work on my book, read, spend time with friends, etc. But Louisville is still a problem. I just don't know how to shape my days here. I do walk and spend time (coffee, lunch ) with friends (but not regularly). I do read and I WILL resume work on my book. But my life feels kind of shapeless. For example, here are my first two weeks in Louisville.
Susan and I went for a "looking for signs of spring" nature walk in Bernheim Forest, a beautiful arboretum outside Louisville. We have had a fairly cold March, so there were precious few harbingers of spring. Some interesting items, like a tree fungus, water drops on a spider web, and some geese.
Tony and I saw two movies, neither of which we liked. The Shape of Water. Yes, we hated it. Pretentious, slow, basically boring. (We are obviously in the minority here, as it won the Oscar for best picture.) Then yesterday Red Sparrow, which we knew wouldn't be good (reviews stank) but it was filmed entirely in Budapaest, so we thought it would be fun to see the city on the screen. Looking out for places we recognized was the best (actually only good) part of the movie. This is how stupid. English speaking actors spoke English with Russian accents even when speaking with each other (presumably in Russian). Logically, they should have spoken Russian with subtitles or spoken regular English. It made no sense (as did the plot as well). Also the whole movie was shot in Budapest, even the parts that were meant to be in Russia. So if you have ever been to Budapest and visited the Museum of Fine Arts in Hero Square (a very recognizable site) you will know this is not the theater (it's not even a theater) for the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow. Similarly, if you have ever been inside the Budapest Opera House you will know you are not in Russia.
Okay, moving along. Other notable highlights.
We bought a new mattress.
We finished watching A French Village, the 7 season French TV series about a fictional village in Vichy France between 1940 and 1945 (with glimpses into the further future). By the way, this is a great series: morally complex in so many ways and utterly compelling.
I reconnected via email with my college roommate with whom I had lost touch many years ago. Writing and back and forth to her has been one of the real pleasures of returning home.
I read the last chapter of my last graduate student's dissertation and will in May hood my last doctoral student. This is especialy bittersweet.
The above paragraphs offer a list of things I am doing. (And it doesn't even include the vast amounts of time I spend reading magazines and watching MSNBC) But that list doesn't really cohere into a story--a narrative. In truth, I still haven't figured out how to be retired in Louisville. That's not to say that I don't like living in Louisville. I enjoy our condo, the movies, going out to eat, seeing more of Susan and other friends. But I don't wake up each day with any real sense of what I want to get done. Louisville is still the filler between travelling and the lake.
Still, the trees are starting to bud. Spring is on its way. We're having Passover with Doug and Susan. Next month Tony's sister Mags and her husband Ken are coming to Louisville. Flowers will be blooming. And we're only about two and a half months from leaving for Michigan!
#Home
#Louisville
#NarrativeofRetirement
#Retirement
If it's any comfort, your Spring looks a lot further on than ours - no leaf buds let alone leaves here in North Yorkshire yet.
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