Settling In
During these first few weeks of retirement; it's been a time to tie up loose ends and settle in to the beginning of a new lifestyle.
Over the last few weeks of work I took advantage of any free moment to reduce, reuse, recycle my toys, craft materials and papers. Little by little I passed along tried and true fine motor manipulatives to the therapist taking my place, gave my reward stickers and trinkets to a work friend with preschool grandkids and saved a digital copy of my favorite handouts so I could recycle the paper copies.
Still, there were some toys and reference papers that came home in a small tote, but these were stored in my art drawer or home filing cabinet by day's end. It motivates me to action to see those empty totes hanging in my coat closet, ready to grab for a trip to Aldi's or for carrying snacks for a future hike in the Blue Ridge.
One big to-do is finishing up the digital photo albums for my fellow retiree and a few more friends at work. Being the department's photo archivist for the last two years was my sneaky way of collecting images of the last 30+ years of the occupational therapists and physical therapists on our staff. Hundreds of images. Our department has always been attractive to new therapist candidates, partly because of our reputation as being extremely supportive of one another and cohesive. The photos only give a small glimpse of the life amongst our group--the luncheons and weddings and baby showers. In between all those celebrations there are memories of organizing meals or providing rides when there was illness or hardship in our lives.
My criteria for which photos to choose--the intended recipient must look nice in every shot and the photo must tell a story. Each of the five albums shares core photos, like group holiday scenes, but is then customized with pictures of colleagues who were part of the person's daily life at work. It's selfish of me but I'm waiting until I can look through all the completed albums before I decide which photos to use for my album. I recently rushed through creating an album for my best friend's birthday gift and was so unhappy to see that the photos I had chosen to highlight did not have the same pizzazz in reality as they did on my computer screen. This time, it'll be satisfying to create carefully edited and arranged memory books for my friends.
Over the last few weeks of work I took advantage of any free moment to reduce, reuse, recycle my toys, craft materials and papers. Little by little I passed along tried and true fine motor manipulatives to the therapist taking my place, gave my reward stickers and trinkets to a work friend with preschool grandkids and saved a digital copy of my favorite handouts so I could recycle the paper copies.
Still, there were some toys and reference papers that came home in a small tote, but these were stored in my art drawer or home filing cabinet by day's end. It motivates me to action to see those empty totes hanging in my coat closet, ready to grab for a trip to Aldi's or for carrying snacks for a future hike in the Blue Ridge.
One big to-do is finishing up the digital photo albums for my fellow retiree and a few more friends at work. Being the department's photo archivist for the last two years was my sneaky way of collecting images of the last 30+ years of the occupational therapists and physical therapists on our staff. Hundreds of images. Our department has always been attractive to new therapist candidates, partly because of our reputation as being extremely supportive of one another and cohesive. The photos only give a small glimpse of the life amongst our group--the luncheons and weddings and baby showers. In between all those celebrations there are memories of organizing meals or providing rides when there was illness or hardship in our lives.
My criteria for which photos to choose--the intended recipient must look nice in every shot and the photo must tell a story. Each of the five albums shares core photos, like group holiday scenes, but is then customized with pictures of colleagues who were part of the person's daily life at work. It's selfish of me but I'm waiting until I can look through all the completed albums before I decide which photos to use for my album. I recently rushed through creating an album for my best friend's birthday gift and was so unhappy to see that the photos I had chosen to highlight did not have the same pizzazz in reality as they did on my computer screen. This time, it'll be satisfying to create carefully edited and arranged memory books for my friends.
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