Retirement Life and Thai Green Curry Chicken for Dinner

Retirement life takes on new rhythms and practices. As I've mentioned before, I continue to work, since my husband retired. To a certain degree, I work more than ever. My husband was always a good cook, but very rarely prepared meals beyond taking over the grill.

A year before retiring, he became intrigued with smoking food (don't even email me about the carbon footprint). That has waned since retirement.

He has taken over cooking most of the evening meals. At first we struggled because he likes things hotter (spicier) than me. He tries very hard to please me and has recently ventured into more adventurous meals.

This week he made Thai Green Curry Chicken. He must have spent $100 on ingredients, since I've never made a Thai meal in my life. It took him two days and he got every pot in the house dirty. On top of that, he does his own dishes. Am I lucky or what?

I'm telling you this for two reasons. The first reason is to gush about the wonderful new housemate I've acquired in the last six months. More importantly, neither of us could have anticipated this new passion. We don't know how long it's going to last or where it's going to go.

I help people plan their retirement life. A plan is a guide, but not an absolute dictation for the future. You know you're retirement is successful when you have the time, money and opportunity to explore new interests and challenges.

It's fun to see him experiment. AND, it's fun not to have to cook dinner every evening.

New on the Retirement Life Matters Website

One of the goals of Retirement Life Matters is to form a community of people to provide and receive support as they transition through the next phase of life. We’re beta testing the Member Registration (it’s free). You don’t have to be retired to join. A willingness to be part of this community is all that’s needed. I’m looking for brave souls to take a few minutes to fill out the form. Feel free to email me with comments, problems or suggestions.

Family will always be the center for many baby boomers. How to help adult children is always a concern.

Stan Spector continues his series about starting a business based on your hobby. Warren Bland continues his quest for the perfect retirement location with a review of Austin, Texas.

Where do You Belong After Retirement?

An important aspect of retirement life is feeling connected. It's important to believe you belong.
I was very concerned about my husband’s transition to retirement. He had worked the nightshift most of his adult life. Because of his schedule, we never developed a social circle of friends. Outside of work and family, he didn’t have a place where he had a sense of belonging. People often don’t realize the importance of being connected, feeling you belong.

For most of the history of mankind, a sense of belonging came from your clan and geographic community. As baby boomers who grew up in the suburbs, much of a sense community based on where we lived was lost. Many of us don’t even know our next door neighbors, let alone feel a sense of connection to them.

As baby boomers became adults, work replaced school as a place to belong. For many, a sense of community is formed by the company you work. Or it may come from camaraderie of a particular profession. For many baby boomers, work fulfills many needs beyond just a paycheck.

For people who do not have a large family, strong church ties or other social group they belong, retirement can be very isolating. It can be a challenge for people to find new ways to connect.

For many, finding a sense of belonging will be based on locating a community based on your interests and passions. I’ve been painting for twelve years. I paint at a studio twice a month. It forces me to paint, no matter how busy I am, but more importantly, it gives me an opportunity to be with my friends, to feel connected others. My painting buddies from my tribe. This is a place where I feel accepted.

My husband is building a plane in our garage. Every day, the garage door goes up. People now stop by throughout the week, checking out the plane and talking about flying. A pilot, who lives up the street, invited my husband to go to the airfield recently. The neighbor introduced my husband to the other pilots. He is finding a new community to belong.

Finding a retirement activity is a way to stay challenged. It also is important as a way to stay connected. Finding a place to belong is an important ingredient to creating a fulfilling retirement.

Finding Love for the Boomers Over 50

When I was researching web sites about retirement life, I concluded that the boomers are just as obsessed with love and sex now, as they were forty years ago.

With the divorce rate still high, many women over 50 are interested in senior dating. The Dating Goddess found herself single at 48. She started dating eighteen months later and has been writing about it ever since. While an excellent writer, she's the 'every woman' self described as attractive but overweight who doesn't match the description of what men say they are looking for.

Dubbed the Dating Goddess by her friends she offers solid advice with a touch of humor and real heart.

When asked what are the mistakes women over 50 make when they start dating, she replied:

They either shoot too high or too low. They shoot too high by having grandiose expectations that their next mate will meet all 100 of their criteria, rather than looking for someone who matches their values and who is attractive to them.

By shooting too low they accept selfish, immature behaviors out of loneliness. They are so desperate to have someone to go to the movies with or cuddle with, they accept loutish behaviors.

You can read the full article at the retirement life matters website.

Wanting love doesn't change as we grow older. Finding help and support along the way is great for anyone.

Senior Health, Senior Diet and Lemons

Eating changes as we get older. I’m beginning to believe that many of our health issues in retirement life could be minimized with a shift in diet. Trust me, I’m not there yet, but I try to be more conscious of what I eat.

Case in point. I’ve had a problem recently with heartburn and acid build-up in my digestive system. This is going to sound counterintuitive, but it was suggested I eat more acid. What? I told my husband and he started eating lemons. Low and behold, his heartburn decreased significantly.

I love lemons. When we walk every morning, we pass lemon trees in people’s yards. Many months ago, I knocked on the door of a neighbor and asked if we could pick her lemons. The lady was delighted and we’ve been helping ourselves ever since.

My husband likes to peel the lemon and eat it raw. I can’t do that, but started putting squeezed lemon in my juice drink every morning. I put ½ lemon in the drink. Guess what? I have less heartburn.

This is obviously not going to change senior health by itself, but I’m intrigued. In researching the lemon, I found it acts as a tonic to the liver, stimulating the production of bile to help digest food if taken in the morning. It is high in vitamin C and can relieve symptoms of asthma, and sore throat. It my also help with arthritis and rheumatism because it flushes toxins from the body. I have asthma and I certainly won’t stop taking my medication because I’m consuming more lemon. Please enlist the aid of your healthcare professional before changing medication. I am finding that eating a more natural and healthy diet helps me feel better.

I want to include lemon in more recipes, but I’m having a hard time finding lemon recipes that don’t include a lot of sugar, milk products or eggs. Does anyone have interesting lemon dishes that are also great for a senior diet?

Note: This is a painting I did of a lemon grove.

Helping Your Community, Retirement Best

The last few months have been bogged down with conversations about people not being able to retire. Or those who have retired, being are forced to go back to work. Certainly this blog is not to minimize the impact and fear people are feeling in their lives. But, there are opportunities to explore in a new retirement life.

A lady came to me last week wanting to return to work to supplement her diminished funds. She is looking for work where she believes she's making a contribution. She wants to make a difference. Many retirees need to suppliment their retirement income, but also want to do good in the world.

For people who want to start a business, many are exploring Social Enterprise, the quest to both make money and do good. This is an excellent PowerPoint to learn more, from the Social Enterprise Alliance. http://ping.fm/iHbnU

I first learned about David Mills through the blogroll at Boomer Chronicles. David wrote the book 10,000 Days: A Call to Arms for the Baby Boom Generation which he discussed with us recently.

Boomers are exploring ways of doing well and doing good or just plane make the world a better place to live.

Clear The Clutter to Improve Your Retirement

You’ll never guess what my retired husband is doing as I sit down to write this blog. He’s been taking all the loose change we have and is putting it in the paper wrappers to take to the bank. He saves most of his change and we decided years ago to use the money for our grandchildren’s college fund. Of course, when he was working he never had time to wrap it. He also saves aluminum cans and uses the recycle money for the college fund. Yesterday, he took the cans to be recycled and in the process, got motivated to wrap coins. An interesting way to spend your retirement life.

A few years ago, I asked two recently retired friends what they were doing in their retirement. Because I saw both of them in a matter of weeks, I was surprised when they each responded, “Cleaning out closets.”

My first responding thought was, “You’ve got to be kidding me?” While I like a clutter free house as much as the next person, I thought cleaning closets was a silly retirement goal.

While it may not make a great retirement goal, there is a cathartic benefit to clearing the clutter that has grown over the years. Many of us have lived in our homes for a long time. No matter how hard you try, the garbage always comes in at a faster rate than it goes out.

Home takes on a new meaning when you retire. Even the most extroverted person spends more time at the house.

If you’re married, it’s important for both of you have a separate space to claim your own. For many couples, that requires cleaning out a garage or a spare room.

Finally, there is a wonderful feeling that comes from getting organized. We all have papers, closets, photos, books, junk drawers and spare rooms turned into storage space that hang around like an albatross needing our attention.