HAPPY AS A CLAM----

 

HAPPY AS A CLAM-------

I don’t want you to get the impression that I am happy to be out of the big city or that I hated living in a big city the majority of my life. Big cities have been good to me and have allowed me to make a good living over all these years, but now it’s time to move onto to greener pastures.

After 68 years of working, I think God and one of my sons looked upon us and said, “Well done…now let’s kind of chill out for the rest of the years.”

So, my son built us a new house in the middle of a hay field in a town of about 280 people in central Texas.

We moved here in October of last year and it has taken some time to get used to it. We are exactly in the boondocks; we have a service station and Dollar General store. No stop lights, just one blinking light at an intersection. It is still hard for me to relax and learn to retire. I am so used to getting up each morning and putting on a suit and driving to the office. It is difficult to just have another cup of coffee and think about nothing. Retiring is a different lifestyle.

Instead of police and ambulance sirens, horns and such, we wake up to cows making cow noises and at night we hear the coyotes calling. We have lots of frogs, toads and fireflies. And clouds, you can see the entire sky. We have a tin roof which is a joy to hear when it rains. The lightening and thunder displays are awesome when it storms.

But most of all it is quiet. You can hear yourself think.

Maybe it’s just me, but in the big city, everyone seems in a hurry but here it’s a slower pace. Folks don’t seem as up tight and actually talk to you every chance they get. Went to the doctor the other day to get an allergy shot (we live in a hay field, remember? And a couple of days later the doctor’s office calls back wanting to know how I was feeling. cannot recall that happening before. I had to take an item back to a big box store for a refund. I was in and out in about 5 minutes. The last time I did that in Houston, I was in there for over an hour.

Our neighbors are some distances away, but they bring cookies, candy, vegetables just to be neighborly. The mail lady stops in for coffee and just to talk. When has that ever happened to you?

We walk about 2 miles in the mornings, folks stop and chat for a few minutes about everything. Gives me a chance to catch my breath. 

We miss our friends; we miss our neighbors. But at some point, in your life you must say ‘whoa’ and slow it down. Take a chill pill and learn to relax.

I think the Eagles had a line in one of their songs that went something like….”don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy”.

Color me relaxed….

See you next week…Peary