Ear for Guitar Music in the Hodgepodge and A to Z Two-fer

My A to Z Challenge entry is combined with the Wednesday Hodgepodge today. I've been talking about my husband's heart surgery as  a theme of sorts. For the letter E,  let me just say that he has an ear for music, and I love his guitar playing. Before his surgery, I often got secretly choked up whenever he would start strumming a familiar tune. I know beyond any doubt that I would miss his music terribly and don't know that I could ever sell his guitars. His hands have been all over them, each guitar having a unique and beautiful sound. 

1. What does retirement mean to you? Are you planning for it, not thinking about it, looking forward to it, or dreading it?

Retirement means not having to work for someone. It means hanging up the hat that comes with a mandatory schedule and pleasing a boss in order to keep the paycheck coming. It means having more choices about how you spend your time, what you give yourself to that isn't necessarily tied to earning money. We are planning for it. My hubby has heard that the people who adjust best to retirement don't retire from something, but they retire to something. Something meaningful, a new adventure. He thinks about retiring every day, but is still at least five years from it. I'm not sure I'd know what to do if he was around all the time every day messing up my rhythm--haha!   

He wants to retire to building and selling guitars. A lot of personal satisfaction and a little cash.
But no boss.

2. It's International Guitar Month...do you play? Does anyone in your family play? What's a song you especially like to hear played on the guitar or a favorite song featuring the guitar?

Speaking of hubby and rhythm, what  a perfect segue to the answer to this question. He plays guitar very well.  I don't play at all. He has a small collection of guitars, and one of our spare bedrooms is now called the Guitar Room. It's also an office, but our daughter decorated it just for him one weekend when we went away for our anniversary! Guitar theme all the way. 

There's  a piece he plays that's my favorite called Bouree in E Minor, by Bach.  If I die before he does, I want him to play it at my funeral. He plays it more slowly than it's written, which I prefer. ( Shhhhh....Don't tell Bach I said that.)

3. What's your comfort food?  

I have a few: mashed potatoes, cereal, rice pudding, donuts.

4. What's one activity or area of your life where you absolutely never procrastinate?

Absolutely never procrastinate? Those three words and "I" might absolutely never be found in the same sentence. I'm going to say it's cleaning the lint trap in the dryer after every load. I'm kind of OCD about that. I've heard horror stories about dryer lint catching fire and the thought scares me to death.


5. Who does the grocery shopping in your house? Does your local store bag the groceries for you or is it a do-it-yourself kind of place? Do you like someone packing your groceries?

We both grocery shop. I hate it, he likes it (or doesn't mind). Our local stores will  bag the groceries unless you say otherwise. I prefer to bag groceries myself because so many baggers just don't know the importance of 1) separating glass jars from each other  2) not putting cleaning supplies with vegetables   3) a good weight to keep bags (or my arms) from breaking . I have a system . I organize things on the conveyor belt in the way I want to bag and unload them.  Don't mess with my system!

Have I just said way more about grocery bagging than anyone cares to read?



6. What's the coolest thing you've seen in nature?

Day after day, it's the sunset. No two alike. God's infinite color palette and His way with a celestial paintbrush positively take my breath away sometimes. This one was somewhere between South Carolina and Florida when my girl and I were driving  to St. Pete in late November. 

7. Share a favorite quote about home.

"Home is a place I've never been."  --said by a man named Dave from our old church, whose house burned three days after Christmas one year  (when an unattended, open pillar candle fell over on the dining room table).

He and his family made it out alive, unharmed,  they were able to rebuild, but in the year that they were homeless, Dave realized afresh that this world is not his home.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Have I announced on here that my sister is expecting her second baby?  Little one is due four days after my birthday in August!