I can get used to this

What's not to like when you can spend so much time with your kids?  After a wonderful first two weeks of retirement, I am really settling into a life after a long career.  The week began with a really fun birthday party for our 8 year old at Long Island Sports Complex where I played Ga-ga for the first time (it's like dodgeball but rolling the ball to hit other players below the knee). The next day was my wife's birthday so we had dim sum with her mom and aunt before a late dinner at one of our favorites, The Cheesecake Factory. The rest of the week, we enjoyed the driving range, Chuck E Cheese, a visit to the bank to cash in our coin jar ($180 collected in four years!), shopping and eating at the humongous Palisades Center, miniature golf, Jones Beach with three neighbor families, Chinatown for our third dim sum lunch of the week and to feed my daughter's new hobby - collecting squishies, riding the subways (my son was thrilled to stand in the front car to watch the train navigate the tracks) and dancing in our living room until bedtime.

To capture all the fun we are having, we started writing notes of the things we enjoyed and placing them in a memory jar.  We'll read those notes at the end of the year to help us recall all these special moments.

A really special moment this week was reconnecting with my two favorite teachers whom I haven't seen in 30 years (we recently found each other on facebook.)  We all had a marvelous time catching up on old school days and our lives since 1982.  My wife and kids enjoyed meeting them at lunch and look forward to seeing them again soon.

It's been two weeks and I really don't miss the career I enjoyed.  I do miss the fun I had with my colleagues though and a random email from one of them sparked a chuckle.  This summer is winding down fast and we have more fun ahead including next week's trip to Charlotte and Hilton Head.  School starts just around the corner for three of us... sigh.  But, for now, I can get used to this leisure time with my family really easily.