Failing Retirement

I recall very clearly in years past hearing retired people saying to me "I'm busier now than I was when I worked." I always wondered to myself, "How could that possibly be?" Now that I have entered this phase of my life, I too find myself busier than ever. Of course I am now doing the things I want to do with my days and not what I "have" to do. Most everyone knows that I manage to stay pretty busy with a variety of things, among them are serving as a CASA (court appointed special advocate) volunteer for kids in foster care, working one or two weekends a month doing clinical nursing testing for a center here close to home, traveling whenever I get the chance, and keeping up with the grandkids, etc. Last week when I told Kim I had decided to take on another activity, she was aghast. A fellow "retired" nursing faculty called me and asked if I would help her write a curriculum for a new nursing program that she has taken on. Apparently, everyone she had asked could not do it, and she was getting desperate I think. I like to write, and it sounded like fun. Initially I just went in to "talk about it." After thinking about it for a day or so, I decided that a temporary committment of 2-3 days a week for a few months might be a challenge for my now somewhat idle brain. Today I spent 8 hours brainstorming with my new "boss," and surprisingly we really got a lot done. When I got home, I proudly showed Joe the draft of a mission statement, program philosophy and conceptual model on which we had worked. Joe told me to return a call from Jeanette (formerly my department chairperson and now supposedly "retired" also). The first thing she said to me was, "I hear you flunked retirement and are back at work." I really didn't think about it like this, but guess it is so. Doesn't life take interesting turns??