Doing Nothing

       I grew up on Long Island and August was beach month. I would get so sunburned that my skin would blister. Back then, no one considered the possibility of skin cancer. I had blisters on my shoulders, blisters on my nose. I happily peeled off the dead skin, examining the strips with mild curiosity.

       We spent our August days swimming in the Long Island Sound. No one seemed to notice or care that the water was orange. I love to swim and attribute this to a young swimming instructor named Betty Fish. It has taken me 60+ years to consider that maybe her last name wasn’t really fish. Standing in front of us she demonstrated how to move our arms and legs then we went into shallow water being careful not to step on horseshoe crabs. The sand and dock were hot on our bare feet and we walked carefully to jump off of the dock and into deeper water and swim.  Where were our parents? Way back then, kiddos were dropped off at the beach and picked up at the end of the day. Or we walked home. This was a small neighborhood beach.  

        The best part of going to the beach was doing nothing. Doing nothing was fun. No plans. No agenda. Retirement can take you full circle back to a lifestyle of Doing Nothing. Are you having as much fun now as you did when you were a kid?  No? My new bumper sticker: Do Nothing will be available online soon. Actually, I am creating a line of D.N. products and will learn to tweet so I can successfully market them. First, I will learn how to use my phone, then tweet, then market, and then - I think I will go to the beach.