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Many of us have lists of things to do to keep us organized and to help us remember to do things. As we approach retirement there are many lists suggested for the big day. I found a great list online that provided ideas for approximately two years prior to my retirement date. Many of the items were financial suggestions (make a will, check insurance coverages, etc.), some were practical for the home (replace older appliances, check the paint, roof, etc.) and some were fun (take an expensive vacation before retiring because it may be more difficult after, etc.). Along with the suggestions on the lists I found online, my retirement system provided a list of things to do and things to think about.
In addition to the lists provided by experts I had for many years started my own list of things I desperately wanted to do when I retired. When discussing this list with friends also nearing retirement I discovered we all had pretty much the same items on our lists. Many of us have put things off during our working years because the tasks seemed so daunting and we didn’t have time to devote to huge projects while raising kids and working.
The first few days after I retired I did nothing. I completely and totally relaxed and smiled a lot. I have pets and I spent a great deal of time with them each day and I watched lots of movies and took long bubble baths and did manicures and pedicures and just thoroughly basked in the glory of this special time. After three days I felt I was ready to face—The List. The list I’m referring to now is my personal list of things I’ve always wanted to do.
The first thing I did was to clean out my computer. I needed reorganization and plenty of it so that I could begin some of the projects on my list. The computer reorganization took two entire days. Along with that I put all of my addresses and pertinent information on my computer so that I could sync it with my iPhone. Both my computer and iPhone have security codes that I never remove so I feel safe keeping them connected in that way. I suppose a true hacker could get this information but I’m not a person of interest for a hacker though I guess anyone could be. After the address book and the computer organization, I set up a preliminary retirement budget in Excel and a business budget and plan. These projects took a few more days.
Next on the list was to paint the bathroom. After that other rooms were listed. I chose not to follow the list in order and instead did a thorough organization of my garage. The list was two pages, single-spaced, and it’s now down to half a page after almost three years of retirement. I won’t bore everyone with all the items on the list. I’m sure we all list these items. But I’m saving the best for last.
The Great Photo Project.
Like many of us, I’ve recorded my life and that of my family and friends fairly faithfully throughout the years with photographs. Especially when I had children. For the most part I kept up with placing the photos in albums in an orderly fashion but at some point they ended up in a large box. Within that box I tried valiantly to keep them in some kind of order. Some of the photos were not so lucky.
After almost three years of retirement and with a huge chunk of items checked off on my “to do” list I decided it was time to tackle the photos. Since the beginning of January I have been working on them day and night with almost no breaks. In the middle of last week I reached an astounding goal. Every single photograph is now scanned to my computer (those were the days when we didn’t have digital cameras and later we had our photos returned to us on disks which also were in piles in a box). Each photo is now where it belongs and in a PowerPoint presentation by location I’ve lived beginning with my birth. The albums start with a fantastic album made by my mom, and continue from that point up to the present. In all there are 16 PowerPoint presentations with approximately 300 photos in each. There are actually more than 300 photos because each photo page I’ve scanned has four to six photos pasted on it. As I look at the pages I crop some of the photos and give them a page of their own if they are special in any away. They are not edited yet or arranged correctly in each presentation and that will take a lot of time. It took a month of 15-hour days to get to this point. So far I have finished three albums. Each album will have a “movie” with music of the era, and a set of jpeg photos. The final touch will be a photo “book” made by Snapfish.
The truly astonishing part of this project though, other than the laborious effort involved, is seeing these photos, one by one, that cover almost 65 years. When they hit the computer each one comes to life and I sometimes am overwhelmed with emotion as I see a photo depicting an event in life I had forgotten. Not forgotten necessarily but a faded memory. Since beginning this project I have a vision of my life that amazes me. I’m so glad I took so many pictures. I only wish I had invested in better cameras when I was younger. Some of those early photos are very poor quality. Fortunately, my daughter gave me Adobe’s Photoshop for Christmas. Even Photoshop has had trouble with a few of these photos but it’s an amazing application and I highly recommend it. I can’t work on each bad photo but sometimes I’ve come across special photos and I’m swept away with the beauty of that moment and I immediately move it to Photoshop so I can work on it and try to bring it back to life. And most of the time it works great. Even if it can’t do much it at least brings it to a point where the features can be clearly seen. And it’s then that I sit here in wonder at the beauty of so many events in my life.
I wish I had started this project earlier but I wasn’t ready. Now that I’m doing this I can’t stop and I have many weeks, perhaps months, left to get it to the level I want it. Though it’s truly hard work and I end the days bone tired, I have never in my life felt so invigorated and so in touch with my family and friends as I have during these past few weeks. It’s as though I’ve been transported back in time and I can actually feel these wonderful people, places, and times. I strongly recommend The Great Photo Project to everyone. (But don’t forget Photoshop!)
www.sharonstrawhandgarner.com
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