Thursday

This spring marks the end of my third year living full time in Dunedin, fourth for John. I’ve said many times that retirement feels like a vacation and we’ve certainly lived like it. We’ve explored every inch of the city and beyond. Our life has been nonstop biking, walking, golf carting, and eating out. We’ve been to plays, festivals, and markets. Some days we play so hard that we go through four complete changes of clothes. 

But we’ve also put down some roots, something that you don’t get to do on vacations. We’ve been to dozens of parties, eaten out with friends, bought furniture, voted, gone to HOA meetings, gotten regular doctors, library cards, and year-round park passes, bought a golf cart, kept up lawn service, filled out city and county surveys, cleared out almost all of our long-term storage belongings, and paid real estate taxes. 

We’ve said goodbye to one fiercely protective but loving dog . . .

 . . . and said hello to this “bag of sausage gravy,” as John calls Toby. We’ve invested two years in dog training classes to help this little one develop into a pretty well-behaved adult dog. (Dog training never ends.) He follows basic commands, knows his colors and the names of some toys, can read four words and solve puzzles, and can perform a few tricks.

Slowly, we have become residents in mind and spirit. The most significant change from enjoying a vacation vs. living in a place where people come to vacation is the change in pace that’s necessary for long term survival. It has become clear to me that our pace of activity needs to be less intense. 

We’re still trying to figure this out and what it means for our daily activities. I think the key is to slow down, add more variety, and enjoy more resting days.

Two things complicate this need to slow down on our physical activities: no work and beautiful weather. There’s plenty of free time, just as there is on a vacation, with few responsibilities, and those responsibilities that we do have come without a boss and no schedule except the one we choose. It sounds ideal but can be exhausting without self restraint. I’ve enjoyed all of our activities and I want to continue doing them all.

And that brings up the other paradoxical complication. When the weather is nearly perfect year round, we’re seldom forced inside to rest. There were only six days this winter when the temperature didn’t get over 60 degrees. And rain seldom lasts for more than a few minutes, at most an hour. I can recall just 3-4 all day rain events this past year. 

On the one hand, we’ve never been in better health; on the other, we’ve never been so physically exhausted. 

So how do we live with this paradox of few constraints and perfect weather when we really enjoy being active outdoors? As a practical matter, it may mean limiting ourselves to one major activity per day, instead of three or four. It may mean fewer blog entries, definitely less walking. And no leaf raking, leaves be damned. It may mean more indoor activities: reading more books (and fewer articles), painting, cooking and getting started on the dreaded kitchen renovation.

Today, we stayed home except for Toby walks. I downloaded a book to my phone from the Dunedin library that my sister, Pam, has recommended several times. The description is above and below.

I’ve already read over 100 pages of this 1,017 page novel. 

More pages, fewer steps.

So bottom line: we’re re-calibrating how we spend our time in search of a healthier and less exhausting balance.