Caffeinated Politics

It has been in the offing for a while, but now it is official. James Wilson, my husband, retired effective yesterday. Smiles abound. And the opening hours of that new chapter could not have started in a more serene, tranquil, and unexpected way.

We were both reading books on the front lawn (James with early Maine history, and I was in 1857) when a young guy who lives down our block walked past, and we all started talking. After a few minutes, I said he should sit in a chair and stop standing on the sidewalk. “I would really like that”. Over the next four hours, we discovered he was a drummer (he was in Brooklyn, New York recently for session work), a remarkable conversationalist with a good vocabulary, and a UW-Madison employee involved in research with a varied array of life interests.

About an hour after he arrived, a married couple we’d known for years walked by and joined us as we all gazed out at Lake Monona. James opened a bottle of wine as I grabbed another wooden Adirondack chair. As we sat and laughed and talked, I noted how the group, ranging in age from 25 to mid-70s and who had not previously met, melded, as if following a prearranged script. It was so congenial.

After the married couple left and darkness fell, James asked Austin if he wanted to stay for pizza, which we were going to order for delivery. After a tour of our home, we had more effortless conversation with breadsticks and pizza around the dinner table.

The best nights in our neighborhood are the ones that start as nothing at all—a simple walk on the sidewalk, a quick hello, a little small talk that somehow stretches into something so relaxing and fun. A truly perfect way to start one’s retirement, with no planning or preparation required.

After Ausin left and we picked up dishes and headed to the State Capitol for our late-night walk, I thought again about why I love living where we do. I guess if I had to make all my feelings about last night fit into one sentence (something I am not good at in short form), I would write: this neighborhood is like a small circle where people slow down long enough to share life. We really love how, since 2007, we have, in essence, built an outdoor room on the front lawn where people wander in and stay for a while.

After years of standing in front of a classroom, both in high school (Maine and New Jersey) and in college (Madison), and then dedicated service to so many clients in his own guardianship business, (an NO, I am not a client, HA!) he is now ready for new chapters in his life, adding his creativity and passions to new roads to be traveled. He has kicked around a book idea and is enhancing his blanket-making skills. Knowing my husband, and since he is 53 years of age, I know he will create many smiles for many around him in the years to come.

Someone wrote that early retirement just means you get to step onto roads with a little more time to notice the scenery of life. I think that is very true. James, being dictated by early morning Zoom meetings or phone conferences or the tedium of whether a person is taking this med or needs to be moved to that facility, is over. Wonderful clients for sure, but now the lake is calling.