Apart from taking time off to have my kids, I have gone to work pretty much every day of my adult life (and who am I kidding - raising kids is work. As far as I’m concerned, it counts). So, when retirement came around last month, I hadn’t given a whole lot of thought as to how to fill the days.
I started out with doing jobs that had been put aside for years - you know, cleaning the garage; getting into the grout in the shower; organizing the cupboard under the kitchen sink. But really, is that what retirement is all about?
A little something about me. I have three hobbies. I knit. I read. I make soup. Riveting, I know, but it’s what I like. One thing is clear - it makes for a sedentary lifestyle.
My job kept me on my feet - often 12 hours at a time. Without that opportunity to move, I had a very real chance of ballooning to 300 pounds and staying there (really). No one in their right mind would ever call me slender or svelte. Zaftig would more readily come to mind. But I always managed to keep things just enough in control that I don’t have to wear a caftan or a muumuu, unless I want to. So, my sister Mirjam and I have started walking pretty much every day. We found a trail that we really like near the house and every morning we head out. Can I tell you - the first day we trudged that walk in 1 hour and 7 minutes. That afternoon and evening I was in pain. But guess what - the next day we did it again. Fast forward about 3 weeks. This morning we did it in 53 minutes and 20 seconds!! And we talked while we walked!! If we can keep that going, I might get a little 5 pound waist weight to wear while I walk (I believe in starting small).
An interesting thing about the walk is seeing things that I didn’t even know the city had to offer. Did you know that Toronto has orioles? Neither did I - until I saw them. I was so surprised that I even posted on Facebook to see whether I was imagining it - but, yes. Toronto has orioles! And Toronto has turtles - great big ones! Mulberry trees are dropping their fruit right now and I know where to find the wild raspberries and grapes when they’re ready. There are lilies, cornflowers, Queen Anne’s Lace, snapdragons, roses and so many more - all five minutes from the place where I have lived for over 20 years. Who knew?
I recently read a rather good book - ‘Burial Rites’ by Hannah Kent. Let me tell you a bit about it.
In 1829, Natan Ketilsson and his guest were brutally murdered in his home. Natan’s maidservant, Agnes Magnusdottir and two others were charged with and convicted of the murders. Agnes became the last person to be executed for murder in Iceland. While awaiting execution, Agnes was was billeted with a family on an isolated farm in northern Iceland and she received spiritual comfort and advice from a young pastor, Thorvardur Jonsson. This is all a matter of public record.
“Burial Rites” is set during Agnes’s last few months. Slowly, a tentative relationship develops between Agnes, her reluctant ‘family’ and her pastor. Agnes tells her story as she sees it - sugar-coating nothing, asking for no sympathy. Even so, by the time Agnes walks to her execution, sympathy and regret are exactly what we come to feel for her.
Hannah Kent writes a wonderfully moving novel. The event itself is thoroughly researched, but it is almost secondary to the depiction of the harsh life of the poor in isolated, northern Iceland in the winter. The author succeeds in defining Agnes not just as 'murderer’ but as a human being in the eyes of her pastor, her host family (I’m not sure what to call them - her jailers?) and our own.
Who a person is and what a person does is not always the same thing.
‘Burial Rites’ is not always an easy book - but very, very worth the read.
e
No comments:
Post a Comment