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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 2000-11-08, Page 7THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2000. PAGE 7. Seniors Woman’s learned something about retirement — it rocks Enjoying herself After many years as a public health nurse, Marguerite Thomas of Brussels is now enjoying a life of retirement. And keeping very, very busy at it. By Marguerite Oberle Thomas Like many working women, I must have been sleep-deprived for a long time. I used to be out of the house by 7 a.m. and with the commute to work was gone a minimum of 10 hours a day. Now, six weeks into retirement, I get up around 8 a.m. I loved my work as a public health nurse especially those years when Connie Kuc, Kathy Workman and I worked out of the Brussels office. It was great getting to know the com munity and be seen as a resource for all ages. So many people have come up and talked about how the work there was useful. It felt meaningful and important. But, I was looking forward to the day when I could say “Good-bye tension, hello pension. Seven day weekends, here I come.” The reasons I was able to retire are twofold. Our pension plan at work offered the opportunity for a buy back and early retirement for people over 50. I had always wanted to retire early and I had saved the money. I have been working or in school since the age of 16, with the excep tion of a few years when my children were babies. I invested a lot of time and money in education, going back to college or university three times. Early on, I had a big student loan though I did own an empty, mort gaged house and held down a full and part-time job. I bought some used furniture and a $40 stove and took in student borders to make ends meet. I had always lived frugally as it was important to me to save money for retirement. As advice to young people it really is important to pay attention and sock away your money. You can’t believe what inter ests you’ll have in life and you’ll want to do things. My 81-year-old mother is a real role model. On any given week, she is baking pies for a church supper, one day, going to a club meeting the next, then taking a bus trip and enter taining friends. Last year she wanted to harvest the grapes from our arbor, with no step stool or ladder high enough to reach the arbour, we told her to forget it. She got a ladder from my brother and she and a friend completed the harvest one day while I was at work. She insists I tell the story correctly and let it be known she did not climb the ladder. She is very safety-con scious. She merely held the basket on her head while her friend picked grapes. She isn’t foolish, you know. We took Mom along to a Multimedia Grandma talk I did at the Kitchener Public Library on “Creating and Storing Memories and Memorabilia”. I have been working on Multimedia Grandma since I first published an article in Chatelaine in 1995. Now I am available and can devote much more time and energy to a working hobby I love. I am looking forward to building up my Multimedia Grandma busi ness by writing, presenting and sto rytelling. I have been attending sto rytelling schools at the Celtic Roots Festival in Goderich and telling sto ries for groups such as the Clinton Dining Out program. One of my favourite activities as a public health nurse was the work with seniors preventing injuries from falls. Town and Country Support Services was my partner. We set up bookings and did the skit Please Help Me I’m Falling. The 35 actors did 26 presentations between last fall and this past spring. I promised myself when I retired I would volunteer at the Blyth theatre and join the Women’s Institute. The first North Huron Citizen I read the week I retired advertised for actors for the Christmas pantomime at the theatre as well as for the next WI meeting. My husband and I, along with three other aGtors from last winter’s troupe joined the pantomime and will be performing on Dec. 1 and 2. The WI welcomed me warmly and I greatly enjoyed the meeting. Another reason I wanted to retire early was because my husband has still not made a full recovery after ingesting E-coli in Walkerton. I had suggested a two-month leave from work, but was told that was not fea sible. My priority was and is our time together. I wanted to be with him. Though we are still dealing with doctors and tests, we are living our lives to the fullest in between. One of my favourite things to do is to be with family and friends. We have already had an overnight stay at my sons’ in Waterloo and/ve will be going to my daughter’s in Oshawa. We had a three-day fall vacation. What a luxury. It was beautiful weather and there were no tourists. I always loved fall for itself, but had dreaded that it was a forerunner to winter. I am now looking forward to this winter as I will be able to stay off the roads and do lots of reading, writing. I love my weekends now. They are no longer marathons to try and get everything done. I love the feeling that I don’t have to do everything today. I loved that it was sunny on Nov. 1 and I could put ter in my garden all afternoon. I love it that I can make a hair appointment in the middle of the day. I love it that I have energy in the evenings. I love it that I am going to have time to put more thought into my Christmas presents. I love it that there is time to watch the bluejays and finches when I eat breakfast in the morning. I love having time to read and write and just putter. I love it that... well, I just plain love it. Retirement rocks. Retirement repulsive? Says who? definitions. Retirement is not a Requiem for the Dead, but a chance to resurrect forgotten dreams and interests (and running shoes); revive old friendships, replenish intellectu al pursuits and resume smelling the roses. My restless nature is resolved to find an alternative to this repulsive word retirement. How about regear, retread, replenish, retrench ...? Which would you select? 24 HOUR EMERGENCY SERVICE By Carol McDonnell Retirement is repulsive. Now before you get all excited, allow me to request your patience as we explore the word retirement, before getting to the action retirement. Okay, the dictionary says retire ment means to give up office or work. But retirement also means to withdraw, be unobtrusive and shy. The biggest insult of all, retirement also means to go to bed. I ask you! After 40 years on the job, you are immediately ready to go to bed for your remaining years? This is the reason why I submit the term retirement when applied to ceasing to work, is repugnant and needs to be revamped. Resolute and determined to research alternatives, I set up a ren dezvous with several retirees asking them to reveal their retiring natures. This request was met with revelry on every side. These people were defi nitely not retiring retirees. Blessed with good health, they had taken the tired out of retirement. Obviously dictionaries are going to have to review and revise their We Deliver Your Freedom with: ■ Home Oxygen ■ Wheelchairs ■ Electric Scooters ■ Hospital Beds ■ Bathroom Equipment ■ Electric Reclining Lift Chairs medichair Canada's Wellness <£tore. MEDIchair *MED-E-OX HOME RESPIRATORY & MEDICAL EQUIPMENT 282 Suncoast Drive 1793 3rd Avenue W. Goderich, ON N7A 4K4 Owen Sound, ON-N4K 6Y2 Tel. (519) 524-2020 Tel. 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