Sylvia's Journal

We are enjoying the beauty of the Cape and the bounty of its oysters. Last night we brought a dozen home. I tried to shuck them but made a mess and Axel took over. How did people learn, way back when, that inside this hard shell was this slimy thing that would become a delicacy? How did they open the shells without oyster knives and Kevlar gloves (and no emergency room nearby)? 

As we usually do when we attend Cape Cod Institute sessions, we talk a lot. It is what makes this such a rich experience. There are moments when I forget that I don’t have to go to work next Monday and that we can keep living like this – wake up together, have breakfast together, go for a walk together, and keep talking. Such things used to be weekend luxuries. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to remind me this is for real. Of course the missing pay check, every second Friday will pinch us, but I am not too worried about that, at least for this calendar year. A few income generating opportunities are have popped up on the horizon. Some of those have disappeared, but a few (small ones) look like they will stay: one to Japan and one to Zambia. The latter a place I have never been to.

We made arrangements for Axel to accompany me to Japan. It will be a familiar routine: I work and he plays, though we will get to play a bit together as well. We arrive Thursday afternoon. I am busy on Saturday afternoon, Sunday and Monday morning and afternoon. Tuesday afternoon we fly back to Boston.

Next week I will start thinking and talking about the modalities of my new, not quite retired, phase.  There is the choice of how to operate: my own LLC, a partner in my daughter’s LLC, independent consultant. I am consulting with financial, tax and legal experts to figure out what to do. Then I have to figure out how many days of the year I want to work – definitely not full-time. And then the contracting can begin while I sort out my website, new business cards, logo, name, etc. I am very lucky that I have a daughter who does this as a business. I offered to be a training project for my son-in-law who she is training to be a graphic design partner in her venture, Align Graphics.