Let me preface my column today by stating that I have been called a lot of things in my life but no one has ever accused me of being lazy. This morning my sixteen year old stepson told my husband, “Marilyn has sure gotten lazy since she stopped working.” This was at 6:30 in the morning. Why would he say such a thing about me? It was because I was still sleeping! Imagine that. A person who no longer needs to be up at the crack of dawn on an exceptionally cold Florida morning is still in bed at 6:30 am. I laughed when my husband told me this when I finally managed to come into the kitchen at 7:45am. It is not like I am sleeping until noon.

Sleeping until a more reasonable time is one of the wonderful benefits of not having to leave the house early to get to work. I was so used to getting up early. When working in Chicago I had to be at the hospital by 7:30am. After moving to Florida my job was located in Ft. Lauderdale an hour of traveling time away during rush hour so I had to leave home by 7:30am. My entire working career my body was used to waking each day at 5:30am. For months now since I’ve stopped working if I slept a half hour later I was thrilled. Now after being retired for nine months when I can finally sleep in a little bit later my stepson has declared that I have become lazy! What a high bar I set for the household.

I will make no excuses for my behavior. I could not be more happy that I am relaxed enough to sleep in an extra hour or two. I no longer go to bed each night worrying about work and thinking of all the things that must get done. My time is my own now and that includes pulling the covers over my head and going back to sleep. That luxury is contained in the retirees’ bill of rights. All I am doing is exercising my rights.