Upon Retirement

Golfer Chi Chi Rodriquez said, “When a man retires, his wife gets twice the husband but only half the income." 

 

Making the adjustments that come with retirement is a challenge for nearly everyone. When I first retired, I woke up every day with a hip, hip hooray: “I don’t have to go to ANY church meetings tonight!” That exhilaration lasted three months and I began scouting about to find something more meaningful to do than hike and play golf.

 

Marie Obermann wrote this prayer called “Upon Retirement”:

Dear God,

Help me have the grace to understand, when my retired engineer husband becomes an expert in dishwasher loading.

Let me grin and sweetly reply each time he asks where I’m going and when I’ll be back.

Let me ignore his accusatory words when I’m late.

Let me swallow my words when he makes our whole house the depository for mail, newspapers, and torn-out articles.

I love the man, God, so please help me adjust to his being here, day after day.

Let me forget that I was solely in charge and learn to share space and time with him.

You have been good to me, and I thank you for keeping him well and with me.  Just help us to remember why it was so important to become a couple those many years ago. Amen.