Karen Nazor-HillIf you ask me what retirement is like, I'll tell you that I'm more exhausted now than I ever was working a full-time job.
The reason? Children. They are wearing me out.
A big part of my decision to take early retirement last April as a reporter at the Times Free Press was to help out with my three grandchildren: Tilleigh, 9, Evie, 6, and William, 3. It cost a small fortune to send the kids to summer camps last year, so I knew that retiring would free me up to babysit while their mommy, my daughter, Kacee, was at work.
Good heavens, Lord, I had forgotten what it's like to take care of three kids day after day. Having raised four children, I thought it would be a breeze. Wrong.
Every day by 3 p.m., I double as a zombie. My hair sticks out everywhere; I'm bug-eyed; I walk around in a daze. Well, maybe I'm exaggerating somewhat, but it's definitely how I feel. I blame it on being 63 years old, which I think is a legitimate claim.
First, the children are always hungry. Always. It doesn't matter that they've eaten breakfast at home before they come to my house, they claim to be hungry - they live next door. Then an hour later, they're hungry again and want a snack. And a couple of hours later, they're ready for lunch and later in the afternoon they want another snack.
Forget that.
After a couple months of living in my kitchen to accommodate their hunger, I enforced some rules. Because I know they eat breakfast at home, they don't have a second one at my house. If they're hungry before lunch, which, of course, they are, they can have fruit. By lunchtime, which is about noon, they think they are starving. Before the "rule," they never ate even half their lunch because they had already had two breakfast meals and a snack. But because they now get one breakfast and fruit, they're always hungry at lunchtime and typically eat anything I prepare. Success!
And instead of having some leaders and followers in the bunch, my three grandchildren are leaders. Nobody backs down ever. The No. 1 word spoken during their stay at my house is "stop," which barely tops "no" and "Mom," their name for me. I usually hear "Mom" being yelled from any room that I'm not in. I've explained to them that I am their grandmother not their servant, and instead of yelling for me to come to them, they should come to me. We're still working on this.
Still, despite my exhaustion, I'm doing what I want to do.
Sure, it's tiring, and I don't have the freedom some of my retired friends have, but I do enjoy being with my babies. Every morning, the kids run through the back door yelling - of course - "Mom." They run to me and shower me with hugs and kisses as though they hadn't seen me in weeks. I'm a sucker for hugs and kisses.
I've learned to have a couple activities planned every day that may include art projects, working in the garden, making cupcakes or going on field trips that have, thus far, meant going to movies. (I opt for air-conditioned field trips since I truly can't take the heat.)
My grandkids are filled with personality and are constantly making me laugh with their antics. They make up plays, and there's nothing I enjoy more than watching them love one another.
The kids and I spend a lot of time in our backyard pool. They love to swim and mostly get along while they're playing in the water. We have lots of water toys and floats, and I even rigged up a swimming lane for Tilleigh and Evie to practice their swimming strokes. The girls are members of the Signal Mountain Green Giants summer swim team.
I'm also aware that school starts in a little over two weeks. Once everyone is back in school and I don't hear my back door open every morning to the shouts of "Mom" followed by hugs and kisses, I'm going to be lonely. My house is going to be quiet.
Who cares that I don't have the freedom other retirees may have? I've got three little people who give me as much love as I give them. So when school starts and I find myself alone after my husband goes to work every weekday morning, I'm going to desperately miss my grandchildren. Thankfully, fall break will be just around the corner, followed by Christmas.
And for the first time in 31 years, I will be home at Christmas - home with my loud and goofy little kids. I can't wait.
Contact Karen Nazor Hill at khill@timesfreepress.com.