According to Wes Moss over at the Retire Sooner podcast, you should have at least 3 of them to be happy in retirement. Here’s my top 5:

(1) Therapy dog activities with Sadie

(2) Quilting, sewing and general craftiness

(3) Travel

(4) Reading

(5) Exploring local trails and hiking spots with hubs & Sadie

Today, I reached out to schedule reading related therapy dog visits with a school somewhat close to home. Visits wouldn’t start until after Labor Day and would happen biweekly. This is right up in my wheelhouse.

Earlier this week, I scheduled sew time in my studio with two of my coworkers. I can’t wait!!!

Last week, my SIL asked if I wanted to go to learn how to tear down a vintage sewing machine and put it back together. Yep! I think September will be the month we go.

Getting very, very excited about the next steps!

It’s time for hubs to make the trek to Houston for his routine monitoring. He had his bloodwork done yesterday. According to the test results, the pesky little cancer cells have apparently been having a calcitonin party over the past several months. The numbers had more or less remained stable at each of his previous check-ups. This time, they doubled…which may put him on an entirely different treatment path. It’ll be interesting to see if there are enough cells clustered in one spot to show up on his scans this time. If so, removal is the usual treatment option. There are some drug therapy options, as well.

Hubby certainly has a much better attitude toward all of this than I do. He takes it in stride whereas I automatically start assuming the worst case scenario. We’ll see what his visit with Dr. Hu reveals.

Post doctor update: No material changes showed on the scans to warrant the increase in calcitonin. Hubs is to return in six months for some additional testing and a biopsy, if necessary. MTC bloodwork monitoring primarily tracks two things: calcitonin and CEA. Both numbers should trend in the same direction. That’s not what happened here. So he goes back in six months (but not on our anniversary!) Time to get back to living!

As I added Boomer’s books to the school library catalog last Friday, I knew without a doubt that I would not be returning next year. I finally felt a sense of peace after weeks of “waffling” as my mother calls it. For nearly 25 years, I’ve worked as a librarian. I will certainly miss sharing new books with my students and co-planning lessons with teachers. The fact of the matter is there are way more things about the teaching profession that I won’t miss than the ones I will. Suffice it to say, this year has been a dumpster fire – probably the hardest one I’ve ever had. Next year is shaping up to be more of the same. No, thank you. My mental and physical health are worth much more than any job.

So, I will exit the schoolhouse doors for the last time on May 27th. I have a summer and fall of fun activities to look forward to. Hubs and I have some big trips penciled in on our calendar, but we’re waiting on the mask mandate to be rescinded before we take them. I have no desire to wear mask for 14 hours a day while riding on the Rocky Mountaineer through the American Southwest.

As for the rest of it, we’ll see what the future holds. I really do like the area where we live, but everything has become so politically divisive. It’s no longer about what’s best for the residents, businesses and taxpayers – it’s all about equity, race and political party. My hopes that our recently elected commissioners would get past this were dashed when the chairwoman pulled the race card in response to a recent event. The citizens deserve better than this.