Still to do

My sixtieth year was to have been o­ne where I did Sixty things for my Sixtieth Year. Unfortunately illness interrupted that. However, since having retired at the end of March 2005 I have steadily improved and providing I pace myself can manage to enjoy myself very well. The past two years have been a time of moving house, visiting family and friends and enjoying time away in the campervan. A list of things I wanted to do or achieve before I died occupied some of my reflective time. The next list is planned for my seventieth year, though that remains on the grace of God. Till then, it remains to be seen what happens, so I shall update the undernoted as and when.

Here goes then with my Retiree’s List of Things Still to Do…..
1. Finish the Creative Writing Course – (I have started another OU course in the meantime.)
2. Edit and complete the novel – even if it never gets published
3. Lose 1 stones…….Gradually, to make sure it stays off.
4. Start preaching again as a way of sharing the love of God (It looks as if this is on hold at present. However I have been able to officiate at a couple of weddings. Emergency stand-in is how I see myself, and that is good enough.)
5. Learn to reverse the campervan into the driveway (This is getting less and less likely as time goes on.
6. Climb another mountain
7. Visit Inveraray Castle (Have done this in 2008, thanks to a visit from husband’s sister and a fine day.)
8. Go to Canada and the States to visit my cousins
9. Play with paints and paper
10. Look as bohemian as I like to feel sometimes
11. Get the sun-porch built (Being done, even as you read. But still not finished in Oct 2008)
12. Give a home to a puppy cairn….. (this has come to pass since January 2006 – see stories about Misty)
13. Get to know my grandchildren better – this is an ongoing joy.
14. Win a short story competition – reminder to self, this means entering them first.
15. Buy a table/trolley for magazines….. (another completed task, we now have two on wheels.)
16. Go for a half-day falconry training (Took place in May 2007 – a lifetime’s experience – Absolutly brilliant.)
17. Make good use of the Scotland-wide bus pass
18. Learn how to use Microsoft Publisher (This has been superceded by a new PC and software, so the new thing to explore in depth is Adobe Photoshop Elements, and I have made a good start. However, I have still to manage to make much of video-editing!)
19. Get a larger hard drive for Sky Plus
20. Sort out radio reception in the house (We have invested in a broadband radio and that is a help.)
21. Have another family get together – scheduled for 2015 God willing. Various anniversaries coincide.
22. Get the stamp collection catalogued online (- or even in longhand, and stick stamps in albums.)
23. Research the ancestors and visit my roots…..
24. Save for a digital camcorder (Have now bought a small canon but am very much a learner.)
25. Learn to make home movies (Slowly and frustratingly this is coming to pass.)

Perhaps that will suffice for now. It reminds me of a story about a friend’s grandmother who kept lists of things she wanted to do at different stages of her retirement. For now, healthwise, the main o­ne I would have difficulty with is No 6 – Climb another mountain. I put it in because of the powerful sense of achievement that came after I climbed Mount Brandon in Ireland around four or five years ago. I get a bit out of puff just now, but maybe losing weight will help.

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Ever Onward in the Present . . . . .   (A work in progress 2016ff)

1. Learn to do the tango all the way through without forgetting the steps.
2. Make a snow angel and take a photograph of it.
3. Tidy the study to reflect present interests.
4. Sort some stamps just to enjoy the designs and photos.
5. Spend adult time with adult grandchildren.
6. Laugh with younger grandchildren and yes, their children too.
7. Stop fretting about things I can no longer do. Let’s face it, driving the campervan is aff.
8. Be proud of myself for reducing weight and being a healthier BMI
9. Laugh every day.
10. Pray God’s Blessing for all the broken places and hurting lives.