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Yes, I was a cookie blogger...in my former life. You know...the one where you work all day and come home dead tired and mix up a batch of cookies and icing and somehow make "magic" in your kitchen, and then take pictures and blog about it? Probably during the most trying times of my life, I spent the most time doing just that. Now...four years after retirement, I look back and I wonder just how, just how...It was always the hobby, not the job. And I LOVED it!
While I still bake the occasional cake and cookies and put up canned goods and spend time in the kitchen...I am retired from my position as special education teacher of the deaf. Since April 1, 2015 as a matter of a fact. So what in the world have I been doing? I have to laugh. Most of you, if anyone is reading this at all, really don't want to spend a whole lot of time considering that answer, I'm sure. Now, that I have all this "time"....I really have to warn you. Retirement does not always equal all free time. Such a shock, I'm sure! But that is so very true. So while you are probably younger and more energetic than me, just know there is life after work. It just may not look exactly like you would have thought. Here is a brief snapshot of retired life for me.
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My first recommendation for retired life...take a trip.
We visited the land of the midnight sun....Alaska-land and sea; my bucket list trip to celebrate...me!
No baking, but ate some of the most amazing dishes and loveliest desserts and didn't have to wash the first pan.
 
Mission trips continued to the Philippines and yes, I did help the ladies to decorate a cookie while there. THAT was pretty interesting and challenging! First the temperature challenge. It's HOT! and 2nd having all the ingredients and 3rd having the icing stay in semi-solid form. But we had a GREAT time trying. After all, what's the worst thing that can happen? Right, you eat the evidence!
  
Retirement is supposed to free up so much time. I must laugh. But I did find time to make this rustic wedding cake and groom tree trunk for an outdoor wedding in our own MS summer heat.
Fun times. No cookies, though. Would have been so much easier to transport. I think that's one reason why I love cookies. But for some reason, everyone's first go-to pay-for dessert just happens to be a cake around here. Gotta love it!
In the process of life, and since retirement age means aged parents, we had to say goodbye to my one and only father in law. One fine man and even though he was also diabetic.....he absolutely loved my cookies and cakes and pies. But really, life is more than our hobbies. It is family and love and time shared. And OBTW....cancer is a mean thing.
To add to my retirement "freedom", I did find time to attend a photography class or two and added that to my list of things to "keep me busy". I do absolutely love it as well, even photographing cookies!. But, then, this is a flower...and an inedible one at that. But sorta pretty, huh? Warning! The next images were never intended to grace anyone's wall frame.
  
Valentine's Day rolls around every year and the opportunity to bake for a local private school fundraiser is one of my highlights. I mean when you are working toward 100, 150 or 200 individual cookies, there's lots of room to "play" with ideas.
One thing that you can never really retire from is the work of the Lord. I continue to stand by my pastor-husband's side and even bake church birthday cakes on all the even-numbered months. The deacon's wife brings for the odd months. One way to practice skills in the cookie world is to bake for friends and family, and occasionally I get the opportunity to do that as well.
I still have a mother in law, and it is such a privilege to bake for her special days...like her 91st birthday this year!
  
My very best friend in the world and I have been married, as I type this, for 45 years. And even retired folks need to continue celebrating that special day. We were gifted a bed and breakfast stay across the bay and I'm not sure how we can relax more than we do, but we find ways. LOL Question, who bakes your special birthday/anniversary cakes? I thought so.
Valentines would not be complete without cookies and cakes. And swiss meringue buttercream!
Not a cookie this year for church, but a whole bunch of bunnies for the church kids! Aren't they adorable?
Between smocking, embroidery and quilting....it's my other hobby that I seem to have had more time for when I worked. All those miracles and I didn't even realize it. my my my
Nothing fancy, but when someone has a special birthday and wants cookies, I get so excited. Again, apparently the earth turns faster after retirement; and it certainly does not stand still.
It dawns on me that I have spent the greater part of my life looking ahead and failed miserably to enjoy the moment in front of my eyes. We should really treasure the moments we have. The failed cookie ideas as well as the good ones where you stand back and go "awwww", the cakes that rise and then fall, the time we spend cleaning up after all those icing bowls and piping bags and tips and counters...yes, they are truly moments we can find joy in if we are looking. My cookie decorating and baking and for that matter all those "fun" things I have chosen to dabble in are certainly enjoyable; but as I am nearing that seventy mark in only 4 years, I just do not believe any of those things are going to be what my mind will be focusing on. Again, I say, your time IS important! It is important to not forget that when you are pricing your sweet talents and even more important when you schedule your time. Your spiritual life and your family and friends are the most valuable asset you possess. So guard it!
In closing this post, I have shared with you a number of images that span the past 4 - 5 years. The years since my retirement. (And my husband's). I am more convinced each day that how I spend my time and what I choose to put the main focus on is most important. You DO realize that I spared you my every baking and traveling detail, right? There is a part of me that wishes I would be able to do more of the "fun" stuff. However, just being able to wash and fold clothes and cook for my family or sit beside my husband while I type a little ol' blog post (that probably very few people will read ) while he watches an old western, is priceless in its own right. And while I don't bake and decorate every day, I DO have the opportunity to make cute/pretty things every now and then and still stay focused on the retired life which isn't quite as empty and I thought it would be. Enjoy your work, enjoy your retirement....embrace your joy!
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