And they aren't "have you put on some weight?"
It's the dreaded post retirement question:
"What do you do all day?"
It's delivered as a "wow, lucky you, wish I could do that. It would be great to have ALL that FREE time."
I hear that statement and think they are really asking, "how does it feel to be a slug?"
I found that saying "seeing friends, seeing movies, going to museums, playing, hopping, skipping and jumping" is met with a wan smile, a nod and not much more than that.
So I switched to saying "I am sculpting." Now this, it appears, elicits nods of encouragement, wistful statements about this being their fantasy. "Precisely what I'd do with my time," they say. Why, I actually think I see some admiration in their eyes. Whether I am working in clay, marble or playdoh, doesn't come up. I, sensibly, don't see the percentages in offering up any specifics.
I might switch, sometime soon, from saying I am sculpting to I'm painting or perhaps pursuing photography. Same cachet, I think.
Making art seems to be the arbiter of being interesting. Looking at it doesn't.
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An alternative response might be “discovering who I really am now that I am not defined by the company that I work for”
Not much chance this will get by big bad Liz, but here goes. Guggenheim tomorrow to see the FL Wright thing. I would ask you to join me but no doubt you are stuck in some windowless room reading all this stuff and/or writing new stuff. I personally was not defined by my company so retirement is really easy to enjoy and looking at art is frankly far more enjoyable than mucking around in clay to turn out the kind of glazed ashtray I created in elementary school. There is something in many of us that requires doing something, producing something. I bet that those folks in Sardinia and Lobotomy Linda or wherever feel no such compulsion. They get up when they want to, have a nap after lunch, eat lightly later, drink ouzo, fart loudly, belch the same and don’t even bother with computers or blogs — certainly not on-line dating. Liz, I am glad you are happy doing this. It is tough enough for me to take the time to read it, although it is easier to comment upon it. Cheers.