What I did in my second year of retirement!

In my second year of retirement I made a new discovery; took up old sports; made and lost a few friends.

Discovered Crafts

Early in 2013 I noticed a Facebook status update from a neighbor about a craft club. Crafting has never been something I was good at; nor thought I'd enjoy but seeing as we were in the dead of winter and my neighbor made it sound like fun I took a chance and signed up. What fun I've had with this new discovery of crafting! I've blogged about most of the things I learned how to make. Michael's has become my new favorite store. I could browse there for hours.

Old Sports

Golf

Spring time came and another NM retiree asked me to golf with her. She was just getting back into the sport and wanted to practice; not join a league. I have a set of clubs but wasn't confident I could even hit the ball anymore. I took lessons through the Milwaukee Rec Dept; and after those my friend and I took more lessons from a pro. We were quite dedicated from May through September getting out twice a week on the par-3 courses in town. I still don't always hit the ball but I do enjoy the outdoors, exercise and friendship. I may look into joining a league in 2014.

Bowling

As the summer was nearing an end I decided to see if I would enjoy bowling in a league again. I sent a message to Bowlero about wanting to join a team of ladies, preferably during the day. I received a call back from someone I knew in my bowling past about joining her league on Monday mornings. Two leagues were being combined and one of the team's were short a bowler so I was put on the "Tidy Bowlers" team. It was awful to begin - my starting average was 104 and I was quite embarrassed as I tied a 94 year old woman with the same average. But - watched a few YouTube videos and practiced before the next week. My average is steadily moving up - now at 134. I really think it should be closer to 150 some day.

 

Old Friends / New Friends

Now that I'm no longer in the work environment; most of my friends from that era have pretty much disappeared. Not that anything bad happened; just that life and priorities change and what we once had in common no longer exists. I do occasionally think about them, wondering how everything is going for them, but not enough to initiate the connection as I once did. I'll keep the memories from all the good times in my heart.

My new activities in crafting and bowling have brought me several new friendships. The ladies are typically ten or more years older, but that doesn't matter. I'm very inspired by how active and healthy they are. Several of the ladies are also in other activities that could be fun, so I may make a few more discoveries in 2014. Yoga anyone?