I used to look forward to the end of the work week and the beginning of the weekend. After almost 2 1/2 years of retirement that feeling is pretty much gone. Only the calendar, pill box, and other people’s schedules that are still working keep me on that cycle.

I do have some weekly goals that do focus on that timeframe but not like a work week. It’s very liberating but also a sense of detachment from the rest of the world. I stay as flexible as possible and try to accommodate other’s schedules.

My professional life in newspapers started off on a weekly basis because I worked for a weekly firm that published 12 local papers and did printing for several other weekly or monthly commercial products in the region. So, everything was tied to a weekly schedule. That went on for 23 years.

Then a sudden shift to a daily newspaper for the last 26 years of my career. That is a strange existence. Daily means 365 days. No break, no holidays, no weekends. It just all blends together. The only differentiation between the week was when I was getting called at home on the weekend instead of being there.

And sometimes during my career the weekend was during others workweek. Most of the time there it never really felt like there was a weekend. So many were interrupted or spent working. I’ve worked hundreds of holidays over the years.

Daily businesses always do their critical work like upgrades, at the least busy times. Could that be weekends, nights, holidays? That was the most exciting and pressure filled work I’ve done. I loved the work I did and the areas I got to work in. It was also brutal on life.

Now I’m into the rewarding part as a senior in retirement. I still have a boss in my better half, and truth be told the kids and grandkids think they are assuming control. My granddaughter has already told me this is her house. And my almost 4-year-old grandson claimed my tractor a few weeks ago

I’ve completely made life about looking at just the next day. Yes, there are a few errands and chores, as there is every day. But that need to get up and go work for someone else for 5 days is history and I feel for my family and friends who are still in that cycle.

Today I put my heart and soul into my hobbies and those close to me.