Finding My New Normal

Well, it's a bitch living up to the excitement of Paris now that I'm back in La Mesa, CA.  I am not even posting to Facebook often. A friend called to ask why and my response was that after 2 months in Paris, it just doesn't seem as if anything I could post would be interesting!

So, I'm posting in spite of that. Been home from Paris 26 days. Been retired almost 4 months. I'm still looking for whatever/whomever I am supposed to be.  Albeit, I'm not looking with much gusto. I have days that seem valuable and productive and days that are slothful and unproductive.  Looking back, however, I realize that I've gotten a lot done. My new normal isn't here yet, but I think it's on the horizon.

Since getting home, I have applied for and/or reached out to two volunteer organizations and two potential part-time employers (keep your fingers crossed!). I've prepared and submitted three proposals for the STC (Society for Technical Communication) Summit scheduled for next May and learned that two of my sessions were accepted (that means a trip to Denver in May).  I have had several lunch dates with friends, attended a retirement luncheon, gone to the local Marine Base and received a retirement badge that will allow me access onto military bases (in case the need arises for me to swoop into SPAWAR to pick someone up for lunch), and done a fair share of the prep work on my upcoming Winter quarter (Jan 2019) class in editing at UCSD Extension. It's the same class I taught a few years ago, but the instructor from whom I have inherited it has made a lot of changes that I need to review and incorporate. (So, I already do have ONE part-time job post-retirement, but it's exclusively online and it does not pay much, so I'm pretty sure I'll have time for something else--as long as it's not too demanding!)

I've spent a lot of time with Blaze.  Here he is, about to enjoy a delightful bone I brought him from Bully's East. (I sure did miss him while I was gone--and NO, he did not give me an excited  homecoming. I guess being a passive, Zen-like dog precludes him from offering bouts of crazed welcoming.)

I've done a couple of new walks, found a new park here in La Mesa that I like (although Blaze needs to stay on leash), and managed to keep up with hand watering the yard when it needs it. I even moved the furniture in the living room to give me a new perspective on things.

Mostly, I've done a LOT of thinking. Thinking about how I'm going to incorporate the things I thought about while I was thinking in Paris about what I would do when I got home. (How's that for a roundabout sentence?)  I'm more content than I thought I'd be.  And, I'm hopeful about the future. That's definite.

My financial status is still not finalized, but it's close. Once I know for sure what my monthly income will be, I can make hard decisions about whether to keep the good-life perks such as gardener, housekeeper, and dog walker. I'm hopeful that I can keep them all...but I'll know better soon. My budget-planning worksheet says that it will be tight, but do-able. I'm doing my best to be more thrifty, and that's tough for someone who spent money rather unwisely for years...but I'm doing pretty well since it's a necessity now. Maybe I do have a bit of my mother in me...she managed to live simply and well on very little her whole life. I always admired that, but never emulated it; now is the time.

So, that's it for today.  Not too much to share except my willingness to find whatever my new normal might be. I haven't found it yet, but the search is on. I'm not in a hurry; so it might take awhile.