First, 4 years ago on August 1, the I-35W bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River. Although I was not personally involved in this disaster, it was kind of traumatic for me. Yesterday, the City dedicated a memorial to the people that were killed in that calamity ( "calamity" or disaster are the words I can think of at the moment - there's no F'ing way I am going to call this an "accident").
The memorial and dedication is a nice gesture. I am glad they did something to remember this. Too often, it seems people are willing to sweep unpleasant realities under the rug and focus on what's "nice".
Yesterday also marked the one-month anniversary of my "retirement". I need to come with a better term for that as well because I am too young to retire, but I am not exactly unemployed in the conventional sense. Perhaps I'll call it my liberation from labor.
The first month has flown by. I got one LCI teaching gig under my belt thanks to the help of a friend, did some rides, got the new LHT tricked out for some sub-24 camping expeditions I am now contemplating, and I have a number of house projects on the go. We are (finally) doing something about our side yard, which will be converted from a neglected, weedy mess to a rose garden this month. We are also resurfacing the deck in back of the house with some new low-maintenance stuff, which will be a big improvement. We plan to break in the new deck with a little get together on the weekend, as a matter of fact.
I still have boxes from the office to un-pack, but I am working my way through that slowly. Most of that garf should probably just be thrown out because I'll never use it again, but I need to go through it and make those decisions this month. I also find I am sizing up other things around the house (clothing, bags, shoes, etc.) and finding a trip to Goodwill happening in the near future.
It's interesting how what you "need" can change so much over time.
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