Miss Bee’s Bolivar Buzz

By Shannon Williams
This month makes six months ago that I retired, so what has changed in my life, what does my life look like today? I had several people tell me that the work detox could be as long as 6 months to a year. I used that train of thought for the first few months to sleep. I had spent 40 years setting an alarm to get up, many times very early to get on a plane, (full disclosure here, I am not a morning person!) so, I really wanted to sleep until I woke up. I think the truth was, that I wanted to stay up watching TV, as late as I wanted to and not worry about being tired the next day. I watch most of my TV, after 10 pm, don’t really take the time to sit down and watch it during the day, did not have time and now it is hard for me to watch TV during the day or even early evening, without feeling I should be productive or work on one of my many lists.

I am now setting an alarm a few days a week, mostly when we have appointments in Galveston or the Bay Area. My natural wake up time is getting earlier, but with summer coming, I want to work on moving it up so I can get stuff done while it is cooler. I have changed a few habits, just to change something. I love coffee cups and like to drink certain types of tea out of certain cups. For about the past 12 years, I have used a clear glass coffee cup with my prior company name and logo, I had cases of them to give to board members and used them for my morning tea drinking, as most days I was in the office working. I have switched to a very colorful new mug, that I found in a great little store in Rural West Texas. I really do love Texas and one of the things I love about Texas is its flowers, so when I saw this cup with both bluebonnets and sunflowers and a love of Texas, I had to have it and I have enjoyed it so!

In the evening, I use my collection of Bee cups that I have been given over the years, it is my wind down to bedtime cup of tea and is something I look forward to each night. I travel with a full set up for my tea drinking habit, so if I have a microwave in my hotel room, I can make my evening tea.

Speaking of hotel rooms, I have done some traveling, mostly weekend trips to take part in some event for family or friends or just to visit. I had not done much of that in the past several years, as most of them took place on weekends, and I just did not have the energy to work all week and then do a weekend trip. But all that has changed and I love little weekend getaways. I am even coping with flying on weekends or holidays! It is great to return from a trip and not have to get ready for work, but just relax and unpack when I feel like it! I think that is one of the best parts of not working, is not being tired after you have had some fun and you return to work already behind and tired!

One of the first things I wanted to do was the old retirement clean out of the house. When you are working, things like cleaning all of the crumbs out of your drawers just get put off and then when it is a must to do, you rush the job. I have touched everything in my kitchen, gotten rid of stuff, wiped down all of the spices (well just the ones I kept LOL) and put things in order. It is a really nice feeling. I am aware that the real trick is keeping it that way, so I work on that and with not being behind and tired all the time, I am doing better at “a place for everything and everything in its place.”

My garden has been my biggest joy! I love to shop for plants, and have had time to discover places all over the area that have great and neat plants! I found very colorful hibiscus, which has started to bloom. I finally found all of my loved Texas natives such as rock roses, Turks cap and wine cups, I will keep you posted on how they do at the beach. Watering is no longer a chore I never have time for and I love my time spent watering and talking to all the flowers and plants. We will see if I still feel that way mid-summer!

So, life is good, different, confusing at time as to what my role is and what is now a priority. But I would not change a thing. I still have a long list of things, projects and tasks, I want to get going.

As you know, I love quotes and found this one about what makes up our life. Make your life count, take part in it, be who you are and work towards who you want to be,

Shannon

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