Retired at Last

The day finally arrived and I turned 62.  Unofficially the official retirement age.  I took advantage of that arbitrary number and "cashed in".  Of course, when the numbers all fell in place, I realised very quickly, that I was going to receive enough retirement money that would keep me quite comfortable in a cardboard box down under the Center Street Bridge.  Nevertheless, I started doing what a lot of retirees do when they lay the work gloves down...they start looking for a job.

As a now retired education employee, the first thing I did was get on the list to substitute.  I was actually called several times, but never knowing if you are going to work or not until 0'dark thirty in the morning, was getting hard to deal with.

I can remember as a school administrator, one of the most challenging tasks I dealt with was keeping an active, up to date substitute bus driver list.  Sooo, seeing as how I have a Class A drivers license, I went through the steps to become a legal bus driver in the State of Tennessee.  I was told by a local school bus provider, that beefing up his substitue list was just what he needed to do.  I was successfully placed on the list.  I actually drove a couple of times, but soon realised that the sub list must have not been very long.  I was asked to drive a regular route, full time.  So, I guess working each school day for 5 hours still qualifies as retired...kind of.

Anyway, at least I'm retired enough to...fish!  Now I know those of you who may know me will be caught off guard when the words "Charlie" and "fishing" are mentioned in the same sentence.  That assumption is probably based on the fact that I never really did much fishing as an adult...or as a kid for that matter.  This is probably based on the fact that when I was at the "learning" age of my youth, when fathers would teach their children about the fine art of fishing and keeping them spellbound with exciting tales of the "big one that got away", I was busy doing something else.  It was all based on the idea of what the true meaning of water signifies.  When I was standing on the shore of the lake with my dad, watching him stick that little hook up the worms "you know what", and hypotised by the little bobbers bouncing delicately on the surface of the water, I quickly learned what a person does while at the lake, and it certainly was not watching a little red plastic doohicky floating in the water.  Body of water...junp in and swim.  Obviously, the two do not mix.  Fishing and swimming in the same location is not the most ideal situation for either party.  Thus, my "learning to fish" session was over. 

At least until I turned 62...but that's the next story.