I survived!

Okay, so...I survived the horrendous ethics exam I spoke of in the last post. I am not sure how, or how well I survived, but I did. I was pleased with all my grades this last semester.

I also survived my week of camping, on the belated honeymoon that Michael and I took. I will talk more about it when I make a post with a link to a photo album with the pictures I took while we were there. I didn't take very many because we were so busy actually enjoying the vacation that we would often forget the camera, and...well, I really can't regret that. I know some people love to catalogue every memory, and a lot of times they have these massive and wonderful albums, but I find I am happy enough just doing these things, and talking to others involved in those same events to jog my memory. I imagine I will feel differently when I'm older, as it seems that has been the case with many things, the older I get.

Speaking of being older, I figured out today that I am most fit for retirement. Michael and I were driving along the Florida coast, away from our campground on St. Joseph's peninsula, and I began to talk about the pros and cons of living on a beach. I have a picture in my mind of various scenes of myself living out my last years, and I feel an overwhelming peace. Though so many think that's one of the worst times in their lives, I think it will be one of the most peaceful and happy. In my retirement musings, I can easily imagine myself in a small cottage somewhere in Derbyshire, England (where most Jane Austen movie adaptations are set), with a small patio shaded by trees looking out over the rolling green hills peppered with jutting rocks. I will have a lovely garden, because that will be one of my main hobbies, and I will grow flowers and herbs. My little cottage will have two bedrooms (one for Michael and me, and one for guests) and a study with built-in bookshelves on three of the four walls, with the wall facing the most scenic view lined with large windows, and a long desk underneath them. I will spend my time reading lots of great literature and philosophy, gardening, and hand-writing letters, because hardly anyone writes letters anymore. I'll go on long walks in my straw hats or headscarves, and everyone will know me as the funny little American lady.

It's only fitting I'm dreaming of retirement, and that I think it will be a nice time in my life, considering I've always had a rather old personality. I'm not really vivacious, and I've never really had a wild streak. Michael used to worry that I would suddenly go wild one day and do all sorts of crazy things that I never did in college, but he's recently confessed that he no longer thinks that will happen. Occasionally, I loosen up a little, but for the most part, I'm responsible and ....well, most would classify me as rather boring. I've just never fit into whatever age I've been, and so..I think the age I'm really fit for just hasn't come up yet. Maybe twenty-four will be it? I'll know in June. Anyway, I'll post more interesting things next time, with links to albums with pictures of both (hopefully) the wedding and the honeymoon. Until then........