Labour and Leisure

Just a few thoughts on Labour Day with the weekend just passed. I've often thought it wasn't called "Labour Day" for nothing - it seemed that it was always the weekend for work, work, work! Cleaning up the cottage, last minute back-to-school buying, getting back home, having that last end-of-summer barbeque - whatever - everyone seemed busy. This past weekend was no exception for us - we had wood to stack, a yard and garden badly in need of sprucing up and so on with the chores. But, I am thinking, why are we retired people, supposedly "the leisured," picking this weekend for all that work? It led me to thinking about the routines we all seem to want and need.

I read a quote by Phyllis McGinley that set me thinking. She wrote, "it is the leisured, I have noticed, who rebel the most at an interruption of routine." As I thought about that I realized that I was really preparing to get back to my fall retirement routine by doing the Labour Day weekend chores, just as I would be preparing for my career of classroom teaching in my working life. But, with one difference: this retirement routine is one I have chosen / selected. It is made up of a balance of activities that I enjoy or that enrich my life in some way (or at least I think they do when I don't become overwhelmed by too many commitments) - exercise, reading, writing, painting or quilting, bridge, volunteer work, house and garden, clubs and friends. I like this routine and I almost do "rebel" when it is interrupted by a long weekend!! In my working life, however, any interruption in the routine was welcomed with joy! Then, my routine was not a chosen one in the short term - it was regulated by timetables, pressures, stress, and almost minute-by-minute decision making. I guess that is the big difference. And looking back on it all, I think I will embrace my retirement routine with gratitude! MMM.....let's see now......should I pour that second cup of coffee before I head out? or should I just stop at Tim's?