I love Monday Mornings

One of the nicest things about being a retired trailing spouse in
Tallahassee is Monday morning.

It starts out with the delivery of the Tallahassee Democrat. When you
pick up the paper on your driveway - it is still dark out - and
quiet. The newspaper is so much lighter - not stuffed with a lot of
advertising flyers. Even the printed pages are not as crowded with
ads. The daily writers are back to work after a weekend of rest. The
stories are in the right places - even though the obituaries
eliminate a lot of the jump space.

Breakfast is on time. Lulu is all primped and dressed for a hard day
of work at FSU. Sometimes I drive her - other times she takes the
Vespa. Parking at FSU is a zoo - especially on Mondays. I put on the
chauffeur's hat - and away we go. It is fun to see the half-awake
students struggling to make a 9 AM class.

I put out the dumpsters - Waste Management comes by to dump them -
and I have two big empty containers - fresh and ready for a week of
filling. I wave to the guys in the guys in the truck with a big smile
on my face. They wonder why I am so happy.

Inside - I put on my favorite Sirius satellite radio talk - Howard
Stern - and I put Good Morning america on the TV for Lulu - once she
is out the door - CNN goes on and the sound goes down. This morning I
take a short stop to see Hillary Clinton on "The View." On a Monday
morning even she looks hot.

I get showered and get to work on the Monday morning laundry.

After that - it is a little scooter or bike ride around the
neighborhood - it is so quiet with all the others off to work or
working inside the house. If I decide to mow the lawn or run the
blower - I do not annoy the worker drones' weekends.

Shopping is a pleasure on Monday mornings. The sky seems bluer and
the humidity seems lower than normal. You go in the stores and you
get the "regular clerks" that know where everything is. A visit to
the gas station finds all the pumps empty. If you decide to have
lunch out - there are plenty of clean tables.

After 33 years of having to answer the 6AM alarm clock and the 8AM
school bell - there is a smug pleasure knowing a new generation of
teachers is slugging it out in the trenches. No more feeling guilty
when you are taking a sick day to visit the doctor - and you do not
want to meet friends that would always ask, "Are you playing hookie?"

People are always asking me what do I do to fill my day. My answer is
always the same, "Nothing - I am retired!" They usually reply that
they could never be retired - they are too busy.

I just smile.