RETROFITTED NOT RETIRED

There are times, not a lot, but noticeable, when I am standing in line waiting to be waited on. The person at the counter looks up and apologizes for the delay and tells me I’ll be taken care of soon. My response is always, “No problem. I’m in no hurry. I’m retired.” And it is never a problem because, well, I am retired. But, then, maybe not. Most people I come in contact with who are in the same position as I am – retired – all sing the same tune: We are busier now than when we worked.

Thus, the other day Arlena and I were talking and the word retired came up. She said that she didn’t like that term simply because of the busy lifestyles we now have. My response is that I would prefer retrofitted as a better way of understanding life now. And I think I am correct. The dictionary defines retired as “having left one’s job and ceased to work.” We may have left our jobs but we have not ceased to work.

What has happened is that in the process of moving from being paid for our work and into the volunteer field, we have been retrofitted to do some things we never did before or had time to do before. We, as the dictionary says, have been furnished “with new or modified parts or equipment not available or considered necessary at the time of manufacture.” I don’t know if that takes into consideration my two cataract surgeries and three hip replacements, but having been retrofitted with these new parts makes what I do now much easier.

The sad part is that I have known many people who have retired and never allowed themselves to be retrofitted. Quite a few died young because all they saw in themselves was who they once were, namely what job they had, and never considered what they could become. My Dad basically died with his boots on working on all the equipment on the family “farm” until his heart gave out. My Mom crocheted almost to her dying breath. Arlena’s Dad, a PTSD victim of WWII, worked till his lungs gave out. Her Mom finally stopped her needle work last month when she reached 98. The arthritic fingers quit working for her. Now she puts together jigsaw puzzles to keep her mind and fingers as active as possible.

We all have those stories. Many of us are those stories. We retrofit our lives to the circumstances around us – as we all are having to do in this time of virus crisis. We are finding new ways of being who we are and doing what needs to be done. There are those, of all ages and conditions, sadly and of course, who refuse to be retrofitted because change is too difficult or something from which they think they are to be exempted.

Our lives are being changed because of circumstances beyond our control, as they always have been, as they always will be, whether those circumstances are age, health, societal conditions, whatever. How we retrofit ourselves to those changes or refuse to do so defines our present and will decide and define our future.