Penny 's retirement
by Penny Helton
(Morganton, NC, USA)
I have been retired since August of 2008 and I have done something I never thought I'd do. I am working part time. I have a great job that I love, but I don't have as much time as I imagined in my retirement. My house still isn't clean, I am still 3 months behind with my pen pal mail and so forth.
The difference is that I am busy doing things I love. I volunteer for the hospice I retired from. I am a member of the craft committee that meets about every other month and makes small gifts or treat bags for the patients. And I usually have a patient that I visit to give the family some respite time.
Right now I am meeting with a lady who is on dialysis and is blind and loves to be read to. Since I love to read, we are a good match. Only problem with this assignment is that if something else comes up, I can't change days due to her dialysis. Our date is Tuesday afternoon at 1 pm.
I also work on the hospice team when they work at the soup kitchen in the mornings on the second Tuesday of each month.
My job that pays is with a different hospice. I do compliance type things. I no longer am on the road going from house to house, but I stay in the office and do chart audits and performance improvement projects and things like that. This is very important due to the changes in medicare and the new things in place to be sure that each health care agency is in compliance. Things are changing quickly and it helps to have one person who can attend the workshops and webinars and keep up to date with what is required. So this job is perfect for me and also a good thing for the hospice. I started out at one day a week but the hospice has grown and now they will let me work as much as I can. Usually two days a week right now. I am sure it is a God thing that this job opened up just as I retired.
I'm also busy with church activities. I am secretary for the mission circle which meets once a month. I attend a Sunday school on the second Sunday of each month at a nursing home. Occasionally I teach the lesson. We don't have a ciricumlum, we just speak on whatever subject we feel led to bring up. Once I find the topic that I think God would have me talk about, the rest falls into place.
I have started sending more cards to shut ins also. I have found two on line groups that have lists of people needing cheer. One is for seniors and the other is for any age.
My grandchildren take up a joyful part of my retirement too. The older three are teenagers now and the youngest is eight. They spend some weekends here and Joe drives the two older boys to school each morning so I get to see a lot of them. Notice I did not volunteer for the driving job. I still like to sleep in whenever I get the chance.
So that is my retirement so far. I am still a very busy lady and enjoy my life. I have booked a trip to Ireland for October so stay tuned for more of my adventures.
Wendy: Hi Penny! Good to see you here!
Sounds like you've got a busy retired life, and I am working myself towards quite the same. Enough of this hermit stay-at-home stuff.. grin!
Are you a Stephen Minister? Sounds like it with the lady you read to... I just started this, new to me, but what a great program!
Keep Busy! You are giving back to your community and I think thats fantastic!
