“Working’ Retirement
I’ve been ‘retired’ for a number of years but mentally I keep myself ‘employed.’ For a while I worked many hours as a volunteer in the kitchen at Senior Meals and coordinated the book sales for the Friends of the Library where we lived.
When we moved to Colorado, those activities had to change and for a little while I spent time settling in and finding my way around a new town but something was missing. I wanted to go back to selling my jewelry on Etsy but was reluctant to get into all the sales tax mumbo jumbo required in Colorado. While learning the area, I came upon a yarn store I wanted to check out and stumbled across my next ‘career’ in retirement. I became involved knitting helmet liners for the troops (a project that has since ceased). This project led me to Ravelry.com and a huge world of free patterns, charity needs, support and information.
This is a hat for the homeless - a project that the Ravelry.com group Sharing Our Gifts is working on this month in Minnesota. Next month it will be a different project for a different state.
I’ve finally decided that I’ll never completely ‘retire’ until I can no longer hold a crochet hook, knitting needle or find my way thru a pattern. My current job is to knit or crochet ‘what makes my heart sing’ as a Ravelry friend is fond of saying and then give those items to people who need them far more than I do. I feel so blessed to live in a country where we have opportunities, where we have enough we can share with those who have less and where generous people have given me yarn to create items for others.
A hat for a pre-schooler on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
If I stop creating and learning then I am depriving myself of joy and letting all those around me down.
Hugs and happy stitching (or whatever makes your heart sing) as you enjoy those ‘retirement’ years.
Kae