One of the biggest questions concerning retirement is will I use my free time constructively?  While we’re in our working years, the job dictates discipline at least from 8-5 each weekday.  What happens to that sense of discipline once we retire?  I’ve found that in my first three months of retirement, I’ve maintained a strong degree of discipline.  It will be interesting to see what happens as more time passes.  I still get up at 6 a.m. each morning, religiously do my 3 mile run each day, continue to go to Starbuck’s for refreshment (now a half-mile walk with the dogs), and go to the office (now a short walk down the hallway) to check e-mail, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, & key Websites.  Instead of writing proposals and e-mails to clients, I now use that time to write in this blog.  It doesn’t pay much, but occasionally I’ll get a compliment from someone that keeps me going.  Oh, and I’ll check my bank account to make sure that my Social Security and Pension funds have deposited properly.

So what’s different?  Well, at least once a week I’ll have lunch with a friend and that typically involves a couple of beers.  This also carries over from my working days, but I’m no longer drinking on the job – it’s now called Day Drinking.  I’m not sure which is worse?  Twenty-five years ago in the advertising business, drinking with a client was part of the job.  I can remember a client of mine who owned his own advertising agency that expected me to keep pace.  He drank Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 like it was water.  After a couple of hours of “business discussions,” I would have to go home and take a nap.  To cover my ass, I would always inform my boss when these lunches took place, so he wouldn’t expect me at an afternoon meeting.   Knowing the client, he had no problem with it.  I think we’re all familiar with the television series, “Mad Men,” and how alcohol and advertising went hand-in-hand!   Or, Hand to Mouth!

At some point in my career, a drink or two at lunch was no longer the norm.  Just like in college, smoking a joint is no longer a part of studying!   Times change  and I’m still trying to keep up.  The one thing that hasn’t changed is that if I drink at lunch, an afternoon nap in not uncommon.   Unless, I stop at McDonald’s for a Diet Coke.  The caffeine will typically keep me going.  Anymore, I need the Diet Coke to keep me awake in the afternoon whether Day Drinking or not!

I do now know my limits when it comes to drinking.  Two drinks maximum is all I can handle at this age.  Do I go over that on occasion?  Yes, but that’s no different than when I was working.  However, at this age, my chaser is the Diet Coke, and the combination of this and alcohol makes for a restless night of sleep.  The consequences include a trip to the bathroom each hour.  Fortunately, I typically don’t have any problems getting back to sleep, but they are really only short naps until the urge strikes again.  They say that once you pass 60 years of age, never walk by a restroom without using it.  Combine that with beer and Diet Coke and you might as well just stay in the bathroom.  Even the rush of water to wash my hands, results in an endless cycle of toilet trips.  (FYI – I’m pausing here to visit the John).

(Flushing noise in background) My still-working wife is very much against Day Drinking.  She gets extremely disgusted when she comes home from work to find me and my retired friends enjoying a glass of wine, so even Happy Hour isn’t acceptable in her book.  I’m grateful that she keeps us in line.  She, however, is what they call an “Enabler,” since she loves to buy wine but hardly drinks any of it.  As a result, we have a full wine cellar and excess boxes stacked in the garage.  She likes to have fine wine when company comes, but right now supply is exceeding demand.  I will strategically wait until she starts dinner to suggest that we open a bottle.  By definition, anything after 5 p.m. is not Day Drinking!