Retired, Recycled
Ernest D’Godor
It shouldn’t have come as any surprise that upon retiring I would have to reinvent myself. But like going back to diapers, an inevitable fate of age, I found myself confounded at the end of every month trying to figure out where my retirement money was slipping away to. It certainly wasn’t slipping into my wallet, and look though I may, there were no holes in the proverbial pockets, it just was the ever climbing prices leading to a decreasing in the standard of living.
The first thing I tried was a part-time job at the nearby, formerly known as a Five and Dime, which had since become a gas station/convenience store. The store is set up so that any idiot could man the counter, but I guess I’m not an idiot, because I just couldn’t understand how to work the machines. The manager kept assuring me that I would get it, but after three days, even he realized it wasn’t going to work.
My second attempt at recycling myself came as a suggestion from my son. He thought I could do some odd jobs for the senior citizens in the area. We printed up some business cards and I took them door to door to introduce myself. However, apart from the old woman who lives down the street who hired me to rake her yard and then stood there, talked to me for two hours and paid me 50 cents for my efforts, everyone else was not home.
My most recent adventure has been on the Internet. I came up with an idea to teach on the Internet. I spent almost a year learning how to make a website, how to operate it, load it with original material, and publish it. But there is so much information on the net, that although I get one or two hits a day, no one has shown any serious interest in it. Well, that is apart from the old lady who asked me to rake her leaves. She ordered one $5 packet and then tried to get me to come over to her house and help her download it. I think she wants to ask me out on a date.
So now I just do what everyone else seems to be doing: go to the library, go out to eat with someone who pays for the meal and take home a doggie bag that will last a week, and enjoy the peace and quiet of my own home.
Her Soul’s Own Doing
Lani Matsu
As it often happens, sweet utterances reached out to her as this one surely did. “You can take no credit for beauty at sixteen. But if you are beautiful at sixty, it will be your soul’s own doing.” ~ Marie Stopes
“Ahh,” she whispered to herself, “this is something I want to leave for my babies and their babies to remember.” Then delving deeper into her own soul, she paused in quiet reflection.
Her thoughts took her back in time. Perhaps this process, this ultra-sensitive awareness, started for her as a very young girl maybe not yet even 10 years old.
She remembers back then how her heart literally, painfully ached when she saw people mistreating each other. She remembers vividly how it hurt her to even watch someone eating quickly because they were so very hungry, and it hurt her thinking that they probably were. At that young age she knew she had to do everything possible to shield her heart/her soul from breaking. And so she decided back then that she would not, simply could not watch, nor read, nor listen to anything that told of man’s inhumanity to man. She would put her hands over her eyes and stop looking, or ask anyone to please not go on with the rest of a tragic story. She read the headlines but never the details of an article, so she was somewhat informed though never entirely, and was comfortable with that. Later on she even taught her children how to care for their Cabbage Patch Kids, for her sons had theirs, too. She taught them to “be gentle” with them, never leaving them thrown upon the floor.
And so it was when this gem came across her desk, she began wondering what the facets of a “beautiful soul” might look like. She began by asking, “How do I want to be remembered? What do I value? What do I stand for?” Days later after thoughtful care, she wrote down a list of questions to asked herself:
1. Was she grateful enough?
2. Was she compassionate enough to others and to herself?
3. Who was she when no one was watching? Did her outsides match who she really was on the inside?
4. Did she protect and speak up for those without a voice?
5. Was she teachable and humble?
6. What relationships would she be leaving behind?
One thing she knew with certainty—she wanted to live her life authentically, with purpose and poise.
Then on her knees in prayer, she asked her Heavenly Father to lead her toward creating a beautiful soul.