Volunteering & Volunteer Students

After decompressing from stress, I've found retirement quite enjoyable.  I'd always envisioned a retired lifestyle of hanging out at The "Club" with my girlfriends, playing golf, going to lunch everyday and starting happy hour at 4.  Unfortunately, my (hopefully temporary) early retirement isn't finding me living that dream so much. 

Hanging out at the club, Fitness Club - not Country Club, has proven to be quite painful (albeit good fodder for blogging).  We don't belong to a Country Club or have many friends who do, so my opportunities are limited on that front.  If you ever want to offer up a permanent guest pass or need help meeting your monthly club expenditure requirements, by all means, let me know.  I'd be happy to help you out with a game of racquetball, tennis, golf or a little fine dining.  Until then, I will be at LifeTime, tripping out on lactic acid.

Going out to lunch everyday with friends is not panning out so well either because  a) most of my friends work;  b)  I'm not able to cash in on the 401K  for another 25 years - hence no money; and  c) I'm keeping busy with the kids' school activities or volunteering with the MVNA adopt a family most days.   I'm able to meet up with friends a couple days a week.  And frankly, I am finding this arrangement ideal.  

As far as happy hour starting at 4, I could start drinking at 4 but I don't drink alone and quite honestly, I really don't even like to drink.  I enjoy a cocktail or two, but I mostly get tired if I have more than that.  And I HATE being hungover.  This may be hard to believe, but I can have as much fun sober as drunk.  I bet people would be more impressed with my array of beer tricks now than they were in college though.  Sober Karmen would probably destroy a lot less furniture and carpet than Tank Murdock Karmen did.  Hmmm...  I may consider brushing up on some of those old maneuvers.  Goal for 2008 - Build beer trick repertoire.   Lofty.  But attainable.  I like that.

One of the most profound realizations I've had during this brief retirement period has come from the volunteering I've been doing.  It is mind-boggling to experience working for a company that paid its CEO $54 million one year to working with people who literally have NOTHING - as in no food, blankets, coats, or underwear.  There truly are people in America that, through different circumstances, are incredibly poor.   My general assumption tended to be that people were indigent by their own choice, behavior, or lack of ambition.  While that may be true in some cases, I've come to realize that many are not poor by choice.  Some have mental illness; some are uneducated; some are immigrants who have fled violence and persecution to find a better life for themselves and their families; some have lost the working spouse tragically in the I35 W bridge collapse or other freak accidents; some are people who have had a health crisis take them out of work for an extended time.  Many are elderly who have been discarded by their families and society.  It's staggering to get a glimpse at the vast spectrum of wealth and poverty.  Realizing this level of despair exists in my city would never have occurred had I not stepped out of my comfortable suburban life for a few hours each week.  

So getting out of corporate America to do a little self-preservation and regrouping has ultimately not only preserved my sanity (what's left of it anyhow), but broadened my awareness of life and the human condition.  It's a lesson that I hadn't planned on learning in this stretch of retirement, but I'm glad it found me.