This past week I had lunch with a group of former co-workers. There were 5 of us.We're all retired now. The first person in the group to retire did so in 2001. The last was yours truly in Dec.' 05. We get together as a group once or twice a year. A couple of the women have become good friends of mine. We had a wonderful afternoon. It went by too fast.

In all the catching up, sharing, listening, & laughter, the subject of boredom came up. Someone in the group said she keeps herself busy in retirement but sometimes she gets so bored. I have said many times since retiring I NEVER am bored. There's so much to do. Even though I'm alone a lot, boredom just doesn't occur for me. Others in the group had similar remarks.

Today I realized in part why I don't ever feel bored. It was a beautiful warm day on the campus where I've been taking classes & workshops the past 2 years in a Lifelong Learning group for retired professionals. The trees & flowers were an array of color & fragrances. Some of the students were dressed in shorts. There was a 2 hour gap between my classes since the one I usually go to in that time slot was cancelled. I didn't have much to read with me so I sat in the shade organizing my stash of original photos I had packed for my Watercolor group. When I finished that task there was still another hour to wait, so I pulled out some paper & a pen & began to sketch. There were a great number of subjects around me to choose from.

My friend's comment about boredom came to my mind. I realized what a wonderful thing it is to have the ability & the desire to do art. It's something I've always loved since I was about 10 years old when I first realized I could draw anything I set my mind to work at.

Now if only I could figure out how NOT to be lonely sometimes. That would make my life absolutely - almost - PERFECT !