It’s been “Matinee Monday,” “Museum Tuesday,” “Errand Wednesday,” “Schnauzerthon Thursday,” and “Flight Friday.” These are all signs of joint retirement, a new era in my life. I’ve been on my own for nearly three years, finding daily projects that I could enjoy by myself as a retiree. This week I’ve had my wife’s company, planning things as a couple. We’re off to New York City tonight together, when I had initially planned to meet her there. Many changes have taken place in our lives this past week.

We saw the movie “Blinded by the Light” on Monday at the special Senior rate and visited the Portland Historical Museum for The Beatles exhibit. Free admission to see this collection, as a local resident, was an even better deal than a Senior discount. Memories of their Portland concert on 8/22/65 was a highlight as well as footage from their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. I think I was more impressed by the B.B. King display, featuring his legendary guitar companion Lucille, and the Fab Four’s fascination with Buddy Holly and The Crickets. Beatles…Crickets…get it? These much older artists along with Bruuuuce (See Post #1063) and The Beatles occupied our first two days of joint retirement, a fitting tribute to Senior Citizenship. Day three was filled with projects related to moving – transferring cable service, signing a rental lease, looking for storage space, and securing a mover. Some of our more cumbersome possessions like a piano, treadmill, and spare bedroom set have been offered to friends in lieu of storage fees. I also have a trunk-full of once valuable furs, leather coats, and custom suits that I need to drop-off at Goodwill. It’s difficult knowing that these were once expensive gifts and stylish fashion styles. We only hope that others can enjoy them as much as we once did.

Retirement is time to downsize and let go. We’ll be making several moves before we finally settle into our final home. In the process, we’ll struggle with what to keep, and may at some point regret what we gave away. We’ve been very fortunate to even have this problem. It’s amazing what you collect in over 50 years of living in apartments, hotel rooms, condos, and homes. Life has been a vicious cycle of buying and purging. Through the last 20 years my loving wife and I have worked and saved while enjoying each other. Together we’ve survived eleven moves, with this the twelfth. The Beatles say it best when it comes to deciding what is important in life: 

“All you need is love,
All you need is love,
All you need is love, love,
Love is all you need.”

The rest can be downsized.