Where does the time go?

I have recently found out that some old friends were asking about me. I have not seen or heard from them in years so I was quite glad to try and contact them back. So now I am awaiting their reply.
I have been thinking a lot about how time really does fly past when you raise a family and work full time. In this day and age we seem to move about so much that it is quite easy to lose contact with people you know, even family. I have cousins in other areas of Australia whom I have not seen since I was a child and others who I have seen occasionally over the years. When I think of how we spent time as children we never thought about how as we grew up that our lives would go in so many diffeent directions. It is strange to think that you spend many years raising a child only to have them depart for other parts of the world and only getting to see them on the odd occasion. It will be interesting to see what has happened to my friends children and where they are!

I now have Bob living at my house until we find a new home for him. He has settled in quite well and is now starting to research what is available to him and where. I think he has started to enjoy not having to go to work whether he wants to or not. He is still quite active, so he gets in his ute and toddles off to the shops, or out to lunch somewhere and is quite enjoying his life without any pressure. We have a cup of tea most afternoons on my arrival home(when he is not out somewhere) and have a yarn before I go and spend a couple of hours working on a project or whatever.

It was raining this weekend so I used the time to get a lot done in the office. My goodness one does accumulate a lot of paperwork when you ignore it for a long time. If I can keep going the way I am, I will have caught up by the end of the week with most of it and then I can concentrate on the physical projects such as my boat and trailer or renovating the house ready for selling. I am 1/3 of the way through rebuilding the trailer roller brackets, which is a challenge as I have redesigned them to what I want so they will work better. Then I can start refitting the boat so it is ready for next summer when I hope to be in Queensland. I have a lot of things to finish here before I retire so it is pretty busy when I am home from work. Wouldn't have it any other way, as it would be boring having to put my feet up and do nothing...... errr not!

Well retirement draws closer every day and I will not be one of those who sit around in shock at not working anymore. I have so much to do, people to see and places to go I will probably have less time than now! But it will be fun and no boss to answer to.... even greater!!!
Not that I am complaining as I have enjoyed working where I am and it has given me the funds to do so much for others as well as myself. It will be hard to say goodbye to people I have worked with for over 20 years, but they have all booked in to their/my holiday house on the Gold Coast, so I won't get rid of them that easy. :)

The Big Move

It has been an interesting time since my return from Cambodia. Bob had sold his house and had to be moved out by Friday the 14th! He had been in the house since 1964 and had been running his business from there for the last 18 years until he became too sick to work any longer. Still active but no longer at 81 able to work hard as he needed to for his business. It was very draining for him emotionally and physically. He could only do so much to remove all his goods and sell off what he could. It ended up that we ran out of time and he was not disposing of his stuff quickly enough. I ended up with a lot of his gear sitting at my place. We now have the job of sorting out what can be sold and what can be kept, but at our leisure and a pace that he can cope with. It makes one realise how important it is to have all this sort of thing organised properly before one gets to this stage of life. Bob has worked extremely hard all his life, even up to recently! It came as quite a shock to him to be in the position of being unable to work any longer as he had done. I am so glad to have children, as I have something to look forward to when I retire sometime in the next year or so. Being childless and only having your work as the centre of your life is not the way to spend ones last years. I can't wait for the day that I am free to go and annoy Nathan and his family in America. Leave my hair shedding dog at Mels. Have them all trying to find me as I travel the world! Spoil the grandkids with McDonalds and have their parents cranky because they won't eat their dinner. Poke fun at Nathan because he is sounding and acting more American than Australian! I'm gonna have fun! At their expense of course!