I’ve lost track of time…I may need to save this for the T day, but, hey, when you are 76 you never know if you’ll get to that day.
P for Present
April 17
Meaning that in my 70’s I want to be more present.I want to listen more, see more, enjoy the moment more. I’ve spent my life rushing here and there, planning for the next thing to happen, thinking about yesterday or tomorrow, but rarely being in the now.
This is one of the gifts I am enjoying living in San Miguel–there is no schedule that is vital. I can sit in a tree-shaded park, watching children playing, eating an ice cream cone, ease-dropping on a family conversation in a language I don’t understand. Or I can talk to another gringo, read a book, engage with a vendor or a beggar on the street.
I can be present in this minute allowing time to float by without the need to plan or my mind to wander to what is next.
Being present is a gift I enjoy opening every day.
Q for Quirky
April 18
I’ve noticed as I age other people’s behaviors seem less quirky to me. It may be because I’m realizing how peculiar my own conduct must appear to others, especially younger folks who haven’t seen the multitude of mysterious manners displayed by the majority of folks.
When you reach your 70s you’ve seen it all. Well, almost all. I was exposed to the bizarre behavior of the current POTUS at the tender age of 74. I’m counting on that freakish phenomenon to be over soon and never repeated.
Moving on. With that exception, I’ve come to expect and accept most unusual habits exhibited by both friends, foes and strangers. I’m not certain that is a good thing. It may be better to have less tolerance for what I consider weird. As long as the oddness isn’t harmful, it can be useful and most often entertaining.
Maybe that is the reason I enjoy sitting under a tree in the park watching the world go by in its wacky way! (See P above).
R for Relationships
April 19
My connections with others has changed as I’ve aged. Not necessarily for the better or for the worse, they are altered.
Moving to another country part-time, it became clear that I don’t have time to make friends that I will know 30 years or 20 years, and maybe even 10 years. My associations with others will be different from when I was 20 years old or 45 years old. Then I knew I had the opportunity to bond over a period of time, connecting slowly and deliberately, sharing joyful, painful, excruciating and liberating life events through decades of living.
Today, I have to make those ties quickly. I don’t have time to take my time. I’m learning speed doesn’t determine the quality of buddies. In fact, forming rapport takes on a richer value. I recognize the urge to grasp and nourish the union of two souls wanting to link and relate, sharing this moment, this encounter and finding joy in the newness and the immediacy of this new relationship.
that little voice 
I’m with you all the way Margo, I no longer look too far back or plan too far ahead. Like you I’m living for the present, the here and now and savouring every moment.
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Being in the now is freeing, but it also is scary if one happens to be a control freak—not saying I am, but if–Anyway, when I just flow it can create discomfort because you don’t have a ‘plan’. It’s lovely not to have a plan, but can I handle all this freedom?
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When I retired, part of me rejoiced in my freedom, but the other half missed sitting down and planning the term ahead, the week ahead or the day ahead. For a while colleagues would contact me and ask if I had any plans for this or ideas for that, and could they possibly borrow. So in many ways I still felt in control, but eventually the colleagues began to formulate their own plans and ideas and I was gradually faded out.
Nowadays, I resent anyone asking me to do anything that doesn’t fit in with my own plans, the ones where I say… today I’m doing nothing!
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I read recently the importance of sharing a sit-down meal with others at least 3 times a week. So, if I can plan those interactions around my alone time, I’m doing well. I had never thought about sharing a meal with others as being a good or healthy activity, but after reading about it and thinking about it, I believe the practice makes sense.
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I have a strange mix of 95% no plan, do what I want, when I want, or not at all; 5% total must do by, on, for, with official deadlines. Sometimes it doesn’t quite work properly!
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I think your mix idea is a good one. 95% vs. 5%. When you think about our lives before retiring, it was a reversal of those percentages. In fact, it may have been less than 5% for ‘no plan’ time.
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