Barbara J. Hamby

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That Was Then

As I was folding laundry tonight and watching Jeopardy, I thought about how much I hated doing laundry years ago when I was overworked and under-rested. Now it seems like a breeze to fold clothes and watch television. Back in the working years, raising a family, there were always baskets of dirty laundry, baskets of clean wrinkled laundry, and possibly even stacks of clothes on an ironing board waiting in vain to be pressed. Ninety per cent of the time I was exhausted, running on three to six hours sleep and, for many years, commuting a long distance to work every day.

Now I can appreciate having lived long enough to enjoy retirement years at a slower pace. There’s less laundry to do now and less house cleaning since we have a professional cleaner come in every other week to do the heavy work. Life is much less stressful and I have time for more fun activities. I am more fortunate than many to have had eight years of partial retirement and nearly eleven years of total retirement from paid employment. With any luck, I’ll have more.