My Excuses

When our boys were growing up, I frequently started my sentences with, “When the boys are grown I’ll…”

So the boys are grown. Where is all the time I thought I’d have to catch up with things? Things like organizing my clutter drawers, streamlining my closet, putting snapshots in albums (snapshots taken before digital technology), planting a flower bed, alphabetizing my spices (that was a joke), etc, etc.?

Every retired person I know says the same thing: I’m so busy!

Don’t get me wrong. I like busy. I like having something to prepare for, to buy a new outfit for! (Apparently there aren’t enough occasions to justify that one.) But sometimes I neglect the things that really make a difference. Like checking on friends, seeing how they’re doing. The comforting thing is, they are just as busy, or busier, than I am. They’re traveling, SCUBA diving, riding bicycles, designing interiors for people, taking watercolor lessons, writing in journals…and all saying they don’t have enough time.

This year, for instance, I planned to catch up at Christmas. I wanted to send a creative card, complete with adorable picture of my grandchildren (or should I say complete with pictures of my adorable grandchildren?), but things just didn’t get done. We tried. Honestly, we tried hard!

Finally, in desperation to explain, I emailed some of the people I thought about sending cards to, the ones who knew me well, and offered a picture that I thought might explain my failure. It received such positive feedback, I thought I’d share it here. I call it My Reasons for Not Sending Christmas Cards.

Here it is…