We're only PRETENDING to be retired

I love what I do for a living. My whole life I've been a teacher. Straight out of college I got a job as a weight trainer and aerobics instructor at the YMCA. From there I saved my money and opened my own karate school and would occasionally substitute teach during the day. Ultimately I went back to college for masters level work in education (where Andrea and I met) and got my TEA teaching certificate. After teaching in the classroom full time for eight years we started this crazy business of providing educational, motivational assembly programs.

Covid hit during our daughter's senior year of high school. She has always been into theater (not sure where she got that from...) and loved ALL aspects of theater from acting and directing, to prop building and costume design & construction. She was actually making her own prom dress when we entered spring break and then, as everyone knows, we never went back. Ultimately she ended up repurposing the prom dress into a very cute cocktail dress, but not until it hung sadly, unfinished on the dress form for almost six months.

I mention all this because she is now enrolled in college at a small, private university that specializes in Theater and Performing Arts. That makes me and Andrea "empty-nesters" which sounds like an old-person term, but I don't feel that old. I can't collect Social Security for another 15 years or so. I can't even get a discount at Denny's or IHOP!

Still, the Covid crisis created a major shut-down for us. I have not performed a live show since very early March...that's about six months. We felt the need to follow the instructions of the scientists and medical professionals and so we've been adamant about self-issolating. But we also didn't want to be prisoners in our own home for six months or more. We decided that if we are going to be pushed into an empty-nest with no work to attend to, we might as well live like we're retired.

So we packed up the RV and started planning trips! The RV gives us the luxury of travelling without having to go into restaurants, hotels, and other communal places. We can see all of America from six-feet away while cooking our own food in our own kitchen and sleeping in our own bed!

So far this year we spent a week in west Texas, three weeks in Colorado, and we're currently wrapping up a three-week tour of Pennsylvania. We'll be stopping by to see our daughter at school on our way home, tend to a few things there and then start planning our next trip.

All this to say that we are able to use the cell phone as a wifi hotspot with the laptop as long as we are able to get a cell signal, which is not always. So we can still check and respond to emails and we check our phone messages every few days. Just be patient if you try to contact us.

We're not retired...we're just pretending to be.