Know thyself

Know thyself

Reading Barbara's Living Richly in Retirement blog is always a pleasure but today 's post really started me thinking. She lists things that she knows about herself and talks about how knowing yourself is part of living richly in retirement. So today I am taking a lesson from Barbara and thinking about what I know about myself. 

I don't like crowds.  I don't trust crowds. Worst are throngs of people yelling. Small groups of 10-20 are fine but once I start running out of space around me, I start looking for an exit.  I've always been this way. Maybe it comes from being raised as an only child. 

I like order and a plan. Spontaneous is fine once in a while but I generally like to know what's coming next and where my car keys are.  I am in awe of people who can go to a farmer's market, pick up whatever is freshest in season, and come home, toss it with some freshly made pasta, and have a tasty meal.  

I am not an energetic person. I require quiet and rest. When I have a big chore, I break it into small sections and do it a little at a time. I don't like exercise and eagerly await the day when exercise is no longer the fashionable cure for everything. 

I am a rabid environmentalist. Always have been. I am pretty much always on wild life's side. To this day I remember being traumatized by the movie Old Yeller. Before graduating from high school (in 1965), I joined the SierraClub and the Audubon Society and started recycling.  So this is nothing new.  However, this is not to suggest that I like camping. No, no, no! My rule is that I will go anywhere during the day but I want clean sheets, a hot shower, and a flush toilet at the end of the day. Period. Not negotiable. 

I am not into cooking. But since I am into eating, I manage to keep us reasonably well fed. I wish I could be a vegetarian but that is not going to happen.  I admire people who look on cooking as a pleasurable adventure but I would rather read a cookbook than actually cook something from it. 

I love to read. Almost everything. Nonfiction and fiction. I've tried book clubs but I prefer GoodReads online. Amazon.com's One Click is a real danger to me and my Kindle. 

Church is a problem because I am not much of a true believer. I suppose I could be a Quaker or a Unitarian. 

I am a quilter. Always have been. One of my pleasant childhood memories is playing under the quilting frames while my mother quilted. I learned how to piece the quilt tops by hand but I now do all my piecing on the sewing machine because I think the tops hold together better when they are washed if they are pieced on the machine. But I still do all of the quilting by hand. Slow but I'm not in a hurry anyway.

More later as I think some more.