Thursday Afternoon!

On Thursday afternoon this past week, I stopped at Culver's to pick up hamburgers for my daughter, my two grandkids and and me for lunch. It was about 11:30 when I drove to the school where Lisa worked to meet her and her kids. Lisa is a teacher and it was a parent teacher conference day. That means her kids are not in school but she is not.
When I called her earlier in the week and asked if the kids' schedule would allow me to pick them up to go with me to see the movie, "Where the Wild Things Are," sometime soon, her immediate response was, "How about Thursday?" I knew immediately I could do that. So, at 1:15 on a Thursday afternoon, I took Kaitlin and Brayden to the show.
For years my alarm went off at 5:15 am and I would spend every day at my job. A job I enjoyed but it took all my time and energy and did not allow me to be flexible or available to my daughter or son and my six grandkids.
But now I am retired.
That does not mean that I don't have things to do. I still have a busy life and I have many things that I do. But, now I have options and I have flexibility and availability. I don't think we realize how important it is to have the privilege of being available and being flexible.
I enjoyed Thursday afternoon. I thought about the fact that it was Thursday when I picked up the hamburgers. I thought about the fact that it was Thursday when I bought the movie tickets. I thought about the fact that it was Thursday when I drove the kids back to their house and enjoyed talking about the movie with them.
And I thought about the fact that I was retired and it was a Thursday afternoon and I loved it.