NO REST FOR THE WEARY...OR THE RETIRED! (You read that right!)

Happy Retirement!  Flowers from my beautiful daughter, Carly, delivered to me at work!

WOW!  What a busy first morning I have had so far!  They do say that retirees are more busy than when they were working, and how did anything ever get done with work getting in the way!  Okay, I am exaggerating a bit.  I didn't have too much to do, since Ray has been retired for two months and playing the part of CinderFella. I am just puttering around the house mostly (plus, being on the computer doesn't count--mindless task to scroll facebook page and write emails to friends that can be done at any time but seem to take a while to get done).

While I couldn't really believe that this past week had finally arrived (shock more than denial of quitting my job), I am so happy to be done, not with dental hygiene per se, but with the dental office environment.  Is that politically correct enough?  If I could have done my job for the past thirty years  working as dental hygienists can in Colorado owning my own practice, now that would have been the way to go.  I made great friends at the last two offices I have worked at and these friends made it great those last few days.  Let's just say, I didn't get anywhere near the send off and "thank you for being so great these past few years" that Ray was given by his employer.  But the girls and I made fun for ourselves.  We made sure we got together with those we wanted to be with and made wonderful memories.  We appreciate each other, love, care and support one another. And again, things in the next few weeks at the office should be interesting.  Leave it at that.  Leave it at the door.

Anxiously trying to get home and get to the next day this past week was not helped in any way by the commute.  Driving home these past few days was horrible.  Tuesday afternoon, lovely day that it was, I left the office at 4:35 and arrived home at 6:15.  Do the math.  It did not take the usual one hour.  I heard at the last minute (as in "too late to bail") that only two left lanes of the highway were getting by at mile marker 139.5.  I know I looked at around the thirty minute mark and saw that I was coasting along at about 2mph and had reached mile marker 140.7.  Still a ways to go to see what the heck had happened up ahead to cause this mess.  There was a tractor trailer horizontal on the highway and over a guardrail.  We all eventually took over the left shoulder (what happened to two lanes being opened?).  Medevac chopper was on its way.  They were trying to disconnect the cable so the trailer could be removed from the cab.  Once through the accident, I heard that the center lane was open (guess two parts of the truck were on two different parts of the highway now).  Ray had my dinner on a paper plate (sub from Subway with chips he knows I like), told me to take shower, and then we would eat.  He knows my mood.  I was surprisingly calm.

Sitting stopped on the shoulder with three lanes of traffic to my right soon to merge.

Moving onto Wednesday, and there was a horrible hail storm.  I managed to get out of the office around 4:45 this time, and there wasn't any traffic until the heavy rains came.  BUT everyone paid attention, maintained a good speed, got pelted with the hail, and after about ten minutes, we were out of it.  I was concerned about my car since she has been sold, and I didn't want her damaged by hail!  Since many people were stuck on the highway way behind me, it took just over an hour to get home that night.  While making a salad with Ray for dinner, we heard a loud pop.  Out the cable went.  No tv.  Ray hooked the Roku up, and we started watching "Breaking Bad" on Netflix.  An hour later, out goes the internet.  Getting us ready for Panama here, but at least we had lights.  And water.  So we read our books.  Always have a back up plan.  Internet was restored within an hour, but the cable man needs to come today to restore tv.  This is why I am here writing this post.  I am tied to the house until he shows.  And then, once it is done misting outside, I can take a walk.  (This just in, our cable guy came thirty minutes earlier than the window of time that was given--wow!  Of course, he loved my car and that got us talking about Panama haha).  Four mile walk in, and now back to this and trying to figure out my archaic IPOD.

Back to work and the commute and my last day--Last night, I was super lucky that a patient that always has to see me canceled.  He was scheduled for six months at four pm.  I have seen his name on my schedule for months knowing that he would show, and I would be working a full day (horrors), because those four pm appointments are tough to come by, and with only wanting to see me, I just knew he would keep that appointment.  He canceled sometime on Tuesday.  Oh well, he won't be seeing me now. So out of the office I left around 3:30 (my last patient was fourteen!) after giving repeated hugs to my friends and two dentists.  I was home in no time flat (an hour).  FANTASTIC.  So happy.  It was pouring again, but I was super sunny and bright and clear in my head! I was finally excited!   Ray and I enjoyed a great meal out at Longhorn Steakhouse using a gift card a friend gave me, I have lovely yellow roses on one table (from friends at work along with balloons), and I have a beautiful bouquet of flowers on another table that Carly sent to my office. Cute story about Carly's flowers is that I was just explaining to a 76 year old sweet patient (another one that only sees me every six months--toot my horn here) why I had roses on my floor and a Hulu dancer on a balloon in the window.  We were talking about Panama, how her children moved to Seattle and "never looked back, but you just have to make the time to visit often, and it is a good thing to live an adventure", and then a delivery of flowers came into my room.  For me?  I looked at my patient and told her "yay, we get to see who sent me pretty flowers once I finish your cleaning, of course".  She had all of eight teeth (I was working hard), so the appointment is usually full of chatter.  Once I let her rinse out the paste, she and I opened the box together and saw that the bouquet was from Carly.  I was SUPER surprised!
Finishing up with last night, Ray and I watched more episodes of "Breaking Bad", and today I slept in until 8:30.  (I swear the clock had just shown 7:30 when I rolled over!).

They were too tall to sit on the counter, so they brightened the corner of my operatory.

That's me in the Hulu skirt.

Since it was drizzling out, I decided to switch up my "schedule" for the day.  Funny that last night before bed Ray said "wow, we are finally a retired couple together!  What will you do all day tomorrow?!"  I laughed and told him I thought I better make myself a schedule of some sort!  Yeah right, routines go out the door right about now!  What I did do was start by making a peanut butter Texas sheet cake to take to my dear friends river house tomorrow where we will celebrate our retirement and her gorgeous new home and pool!  And of course, I ate the batter!  Ray left me for the day (really?!) to have lunch with an old co-worker from his days with Giant Food, and then he is having dinner with many old co-workers from his law firm before and after it merged years ago (should be a great gathering).  He figured since he was way up there in Northern Virginia for the dinner, he would combine the lunch date and just stay up there for the day.  Then on Monday, Ray and I leave for Tazewell, VA to see his mom and family before we head to Panama.  We will be there until Thursday, so life is busy this week!  Better get my laundry done, ironed, folded, and I did get the bedroom vacuumed.

All done with the chores, the walk and the tv is restored. The sun is out so perhaps it is time to sit on the porch and read a bit (a murder mystery based in Panama called "Murder in Panama" by Robert Hatting).  Who knows what could happen next and right about now, who cares!  Time to rest my brain.  And. Just. Relax.

Student partners, 1983 (getting my hands on my first set of instruments)

Pinning ceremony, 1983

Last week of dental hygiene