Tag Page summermemory

#summermemory
Encore Hustle

My first summer of retirement. Why do I feel guilty anyway?

This is the first summer I'm fully retired. I’ve been working every summer since 1973. We finally got some relief from the oppressive heat and humidity here, so I've been spending almost every afternoon lounging on the back porch. The weather has been perfect, my vegetable garden is flourishing, and there are birds everywhere, especially my favorite, the red-tailed hawk. I like to think I'm getting pretty good at the art of idling. But a weird kind of guilt still haunts me. Since it's cooled off, I feel like I “should” be cooking and freezing food for the hot weather to come. I also feel like I “should” be vacuuming the carpets and washing the floors because the humidity is lower. And I “should” be listing things on eBay for some extra income. Yet, those particular afternoons vividly recall similar days when I was 12. I would bike down to the town library, grab a couple of Nancy Drew books, get a popsicle, and read under the shade of our big backyard maple tree until supper time. It was so simple and peaceful. I'm just trying to get used to this new reality, and this new feeling about summer. Has anyone else who is retired or close to it felt this way? How do you get past the guilt of just enjoying yourself? How did you feel this summer? #SummerMemory #RetirementLife #RetirementGuilt #SimpleJoys #AgingWell #NewChapter #LifeAfterWork #JobCareer

My first summer of retirement. Why do I feel guilty anyway?
Crystal Navarro

Five Years of European Summer Love Story, One Night That Ended It All

You know those summer flings that are just pure magic? Well, for about five or six years, I had the same one, with the same girl, every single summer. We started when I was 18 and she was 19, in a beautiful beach town in Europe. She was my next-door neighbor there, and everyone knew that summer romances were just part of the deal. People would try to make them last, but they usually faded by the next year. But ours was different. We both loved it. It was like living in the honeymoon phase of a relationship for five years straight because of the long breaks. We'd share books, talk for hours, and she always made me laugh. We’d kiss and make love on those beaches under the most incredible, star-filled skies. I honestly think some of those memories are the best of my life. By the end, we both wanted more. We decided to try long-distance for a year, with her planning to move to my city once I found a new job. But then came my first trip to visit her in her home country -- I ended up getting brutally beaten, almost to within an inch of my life, just because of my ethnicity. That night, it all clicked. I knew it just wouldn't work. We still keep in touch now, and sometimes I look back and wish things could have been different. I still revisit those particular memories with such fondness almost every day, picturing how it would've been if life hadn't been so messed up. But, life goes on. #summermemory #EuropeanSummerVibes #LoveStory #BeachTowns #FirstLove #WhatIf #BittersweetMoments #SummerLove #Relationships

Five Years of European Summer Love Story, One Night That Ended It All
Tag: summermemory | zests.ai