Fall is nicer when you’re retired

Fall is here, summer isn’t over. Huh!

It feels like fall today, cloudy, cold, and a great day to stay indoors by the computer. Did you know computers keep you warm? I didn’t either, but it’s definitely warmer in here by the computer than it is out there in the great (cold) outdoors.

It’s almost cold enough to trade my shorts for long pants. But I’ve got my shorts on. I don’t feel like changing.

So maybe it’s not that cold out there.

A friend is supposed to pick me up and take me out somewhere. I hope its warmer “out somewhere” than it is outside here. Fall, or almost fall, is an interesting time, here in Maine.

When I was teaching school, I disliked the fall. It meant back to work and too many workshops. It meant getting up early, too early, and leaving our country home just above the lake to head off for school. Of course, our country home was paid for by that school, so off I went to teach.

Fall itself I liked. The leaves were turning to nice colors, and driving through them was nice. I sometimes drove myself to school, which meant driving through miles of leaves turning color. Sometime I rode with another teacher, which mean listening to a lot of stories of way up in northern Maine, which may or may not have been true.

Since I’ve retired, fall is nicer. Now I can enjoy those turning leaves without having to battle a bunch of kids.

Retirement itself is nice. I can sleep in, and when we go out to enjoy those turning leaves, we can meander through the countryside and enjoy those leaves. I don’t even mind those big yellow school buses taking up the highway space. Actually we seldom go out to enjoy the fall when those big yellow buses are taking up the highway space. We choose another time of day. We can now enjoy a leisurely breakfast, and then take to the leaf-turning roads.

Fall actually seems like a time to rest, after the relatives and tourists have headed home. Especially being retired allows a lot of rest, after all those crowds have left.

But fall itself is nice. It is quiet. It is peaceful. It shows itself off with all those colored leaves.

Let’s hear it for fall!

Milt Gross can be reached for corrections, harassment, or other purposes at lesstraveledway@roadrunner.com.