Thursday, August 27, 2009

The Value of Small Things

Why am trying to start a blog?

Is it because a member of my fledgling "writers' group" said on Sunday when only two of us showed up, "Hey, maybe you can blog about RETIREMENT!" This before he bolted for the door and a cigarette.

Am I writing this because everyone seems to have a blog these days? A blog is like an iPOD: the cool thing to have.

Or, even grander, some bloggers are getting BOOK CONTRACTS and that'd be really neat?

Nope. I have few illusions and practically no ambitions whatsoever anymore. No longer do I dream I'll become one of those illustrious bloggers whose blogs turn into books which turn up on the bestseller list at the Times.

I do not believe my blog will help me find a new love, reconnect with an old love. Facebook didn't do that, so would this?

I don't even have anything interesting to write about. I did not, for example, buy a place in Tuscany which I am planning to restore and document all the charming foibles of my neighbors as I do.

So what's with THIS blog? Absolutely nothing except this:

August 14 marked my last day as a member of the working world. I have become a reluctant member of the baby boomer retirement corps.

My To Do list now has nothing on it.

Sure, it sounds great. "I wish I had that luxury" is a phrase I've heard often these days.

Sure, I know that no work to do should bring me great joy, but instead, it makes me feel, ummm..what's the word? Oh, I know: OLD.

Yes, I'm officially a "retiree." Although I was born four days before the official 1946 era of The Baby Boomer, it's close enough. So what's up with this?

Will I become someone who goes to the movies in the middle of the day and eats dinner at 5 p.m. ? Possibly.

So I have decided that, for today at least, I will write --blog--about RETIREMENT.

Why not? It's not like I have anything else to do. Well, that's not really true. There's quite a bit I can do--should do---and maybe will do.

Maybe writing every day will force me to DO SOMETHING so that this place is not blank? I like the idea of a blog because, stories like Julie Powell's to the contrary, most blogs do not have high readership--and fewer still have devoted fans.

So, for today, what's with the heading: The Value of Small Things?

Just this: one of the few true things I've discovered is how so much can be accomplished with just the smallest amount of effort sustained over a long period of time. Cut a few calories and do an extra walk up the stairs every day and over a year's time, you'll lose weight. Write a paragraph a day and in a year or five, you'll have a book.

With today's blog, I'm starting what I hope will be a daily list to myself. What small things have I done ? At some point, it would be nice to write What I Have Accomplished.

Or maybe I'll just ramble on whatever strikes my fancy.