Just took a look at the calendar for next week. It looks like it will be a good, full seven days.

Much of that fullness has to do with people. People I will see at breakfast; women I will see at a bible study; a morning of training for the court advocacy program; meeting with the group going to Haiti in February; meeting with my 'family.'

There are also plenty of solo activities: studying and writing a paper or, if lucky, two for the next seminary course; seeing a movie or, if lucky, two, of the five on my current 'must see' list; finishing Pamuk's newest novel and returning it to the library only a few days late; writing devotions for our trip to Haiti; writing and submitting a report for the court; studying training material for a course I'm teaching in February; finalizing questions for next week's book club discussion on Tuesdays with Morrie; selecting materials for a six-week course I'll be teaching late in the Spring.

I wonder if you are thinking what I am thinking. Perhaps you are thinking, this woman loves retirement in a big way. You would be correct. Perhaps you are also thinking that you could accomplish all of the above yourself while working full-time and perhaps you could. I think I was there once. Life seemed crazy but a lot of stuff got done. I like it much better now with the same amount of activities without the commitment to a career.

And that's what I'm thinking about.