Dear Readers,

I vowed that if I could retire that I would spend every minute doing something useful—decluttering closets, planting a garden, making all the recipes that I admired in the New York Times magazines but were too tired/lazy to try.  To complete all the projects on my list might take me a year if I worked steadily and did not indulge in guilty pleasures.

What did I do today?  I  read in bed.  I lunched, long and leisurely, with a lovely high school friend.  We celebrated my retirement at the Cheesecake Factory. Yes, I did have a piece of chocolate fudge cake with whipped cream for dessert.  We talked…a lot.  Shelley and I traded stories about how it felt to be a teacher, a retired person, a wife, a mom, a person who should resist chocolate fudge cake. 

Shelley was my Algebra II tutor at Woodrow Wilson High School.  Through no fault of my tutor, I did not ever understand math once it got abstract.  Shelley was not deterred by this experience and she went on to become a math teacher.  She even remained my friend for forty-seven years and stayed the same–funny, down to earth, kind, smart and honest.  Thanks, Shelley, for the tutoring, the lunch and the friendship.   

After lunch, I went to Barnes & Noble, strolled around and treated myself to a few books.  Ah..real books are a guilty pleasure right up there with chocolate fudge cake.  Books–real books–not books on my Kindle, are a treat.

To continue my day in the same nonproductive but delicious manner, I took a nap in my air-conditioned bedroom with Reina, my little cat.  I ignored chores calling my name.

And…if that was not enough, my husband and I went to a birthday party and for the first time, I ate mole poblano—tender, delicious chicken with mole sauce.  Wow.  I did have a piece of Kahlua chocolate and vanilla birthday cake.  Double wow.

We drove home fifteen miles in that thunderous rain in the dark.  Triple wow–but not a good wow–unless you count that we got home safely.  That probably is a triple wow.  I was scared.

Now I just can’t keep up a steady stream of guilty pleasures.  I’m going to tackle some of the projects that I promised myself to do.  But, it was a super day.  Hope you had one, too.

 

Marguerite Ferra

Writing from Cramer Hill

 

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