FROM THE PASTOR
A Re-Retirement Report
It seems a bit soon to draw any conclusions. As I write it is less than three weeks since I officially concluded my interim pastoral role at St. Luke’s. But people are asking about my experience of “re-retirement” (despite the fact I – and the ELCA Board of Pensions – believe I never “un-retired.” I was just “helping out”).
However, yesterday I had the opportunity to enjoy the time my less-full schedule allows me. Judy and I hosted our “Dinner for Eight (or Ten)” group Sunday evening and I did the kind of serious preparation and grilling that I haven’t been able to do in a long time. It is always a bit stressful but ultimately a very satisfying experience to host and cook for a crowd of friends.
There has been time to work in the backyard. Staining the deck and cleaning the furniture, cleaning the flower beds, planting the vegetable garden, and just generally channeling my father who in retirement could find ways to spend an entire day puttering outside. My father died 25 years ago this month and I find myself thinking about him. In the front yard I continue the landscaping transformation which I began last year with Carol Becker’s coaching. And I think about Carol.
And of course, there is more time for the Miata. Last week Judy and I hosted “Meet Me for Ice Cream,” a midday event I started when I was president of the Windy City Miata Club (2016-18). For this month’s tour that Judy and I had planned, club members gathered in a MacDonald’s parking lot and drove roads through the forest preserves and along the Des Plaines River through Norridge, Park Ridge, Niles, Des Plaines, and Mount Prospect, ending at Capannari’ s for ice cream. (Capannari’ s features small batch, hand-made, super-premium ice cream. You have to check it out.) We sat, enjoyed our ice cream, and talked until the after-school hordes of high school kids crowded the shop and seemed to suggest it was time for us old folks to be on our way.
So, what’s it like in “re-retirement”? Actually, not all that different than it has been the past two years. It’s still all about the people – friends and fellow parishioners, the saints living and the saints triumphant.
It’s about talking and listening, eating and celebrating. It’s about a deep sense of gratitude for people I have been privileged to know and love on the journey.
Yes, retirement is okay.
John
