Retirees in Training

Erich and I spent a delightful week in Fort Pierce, Florida.  Thank goodness for the snowbird in-laws!  The weather was perfection: not a day under 70 or over 80.  (I spent a lot of time trying to convert these temps into Celsius, in my silly attempt to be a respectful American daughter-in-law, but my Canuck readers will have to do their own bidding today.  My conversion always goes something like this: "75 degrees today.  So that would be...about 20?"  Everything is about 20, if you ask me.  20 degrees Celsius, 20 kilometers, 20 grams.  Is that so wrong?)** 

But I digress.  

What I learned on my vacation: E would like to retire.  Like, now.  Today.  He fit in so well with the 65+ crowd!  By day, it was shuffleboard, golf, or a new, probably not Florida-specific pasttime I like to call "looking at things."  What are we looking at? I would ask.  The answers varied.  Sometimes, the potential for dolphin fins breaking the bright blue water.  Sometimes, lizards. (I'd had plenty of them in Atlanta, and had decided long ago that they are simply the rodents of the South.)  Sometimes, we were looking at nothing; just appreciating the warmth and ridiculous beauty of the shore.  I definitely liked "looking at things."  And I was better at it than shuffleboard.  

By night, we played tournament dominos, variaties of canasta, and every card or dice game known by our gracious hosts.  Retirement = at least one person at the table throwing cards on the floor in rage.  

We took lots of walks, read on the beach, and even took in a pre-season baseball game.  (Nats 7, Mets 5, in case you were wondering.  Erich's ability to find a sporting event while on vacation is an impressive 100%.)  Most importantly,  I basked in the warm sun at every turn, avoiding a sunburn with only two slightly embarrassing exceptions.  While E and his parents golfed, I had a date with my iPod and the beach.  Thanks, Kyle, for your most recent mix tape.  It was never appreciated more! I definitely grew accostomed to the relaxation and couldn't have asked for better company, but I do confess to sneaing off to check my email more often than E knows!  Perhaps he is a smidge more prepared for retirement than I am?

The highlight of the trip, for me anyway, was the bar down the street.  Archies, with more outdoor seating than indoor.  With a congregation of bikers, wearing leather in the heat despite all logic and science,  that would put Chicago's Twisted Spoke to shame.  With a sign out front that proclaimed, No shirt, No shoes, No problem.  With a lobster tank attached to a mechanical arm: Catch your own dinner.  And with the most interesting method for keeping a pitcher of beer cool:  

That's right, a baggie full of ice, floating in the pitcher.  That's what I like to see, Archies.

Doesn't get much better than that.  

I fished!  But did not catch.  

**I looked it up, and in this case, my guess wasn't that far off!  I am an awesome AmeriCanadian.