Golden Years

One of the constants in this life is change. The only things that don’t change are God and His Word. But in the here and now, we can pretty much rely on another change or changes coming around the very next corner. We feel that some changes are good and perhaps a few are even great, but when the change shakes our comfort zone, the adjustment period is often filled the five stages of grieving because it involves the loss of what was and an adjustment to what is not yet fully known. What was may have been lousy but we had managed to move it into our comfort zone. During the Golden Years (which is somewhere near the end of the rainbow), and event called retirement usually comes along (at least in our society) and with retirement, comes change. Change that requires adjustments, some considered good or maybe even great, along with others that wobble our comfort zone and for a time, create uneasiness. When one half of a couple enters retirement, the relationship takes on a different flavor and for a time, adjustments are made as a somewhat different relationship begins to grow and take shape. We are in the process of making such an adjustment…as Marie transitions from hardworking, loyal, professional, underpaid and underappreciated employee to hardworking, loyal, underpaid and appreciated wife, grandmother, interior designer, house-painting, power-washing, lawn-mowing retiree. Ahh….the Golden Years.