It's a very confusing day

My Dad is retiring today. I'm happy for him, he's worked hard his whole life and he deserves some time to relax. He's done a great job taking care of my sister and I, now's the time for him to take care of himself. I know he hasn't enjoyed this last job, it was a lot of problems and headaches (and lead), but he did it well. And they rewarded him by moving the plant to Mexico (jeez, I sound like an Ani DiFranco song).

I'm also worried about him. Dad doesn't have a lot of hobbies. He reads but he doesn't read like I do, he would think it was a waste to spend a day just reading. He has some stocks and investments and I thought he'd get into the online money management thing when my parents finally got a computer but he hates it and spends no time on it. He likes to build things and repair stuff but he doesn't have any grand ambition to fix an antique car or build bookshelves or anything like that. Mom keeps saying she wants to rent an RV and travel the country for a while, but Dad really isn't into that.

Isn't that why people retire? So they can do the stuff they've always wanted to do, but didn't have the time to? I don't know what my Dad's stuff is. I've know men who have retired and then felt useless and gone into a depression. I knew one man who didn't come out of it. It scares me to think this might happen to my Dad.

I know I'm probably over-reacting. Come Monday morning, he's probably going to take up roller derby or something and Mom will have to start complaining about how he's never around to work on the honey-do list she made. And when that happens, I'll just have to laugh at myself.

I was born when he was 27; it's 34 years later and everything's changing again. Some things just make you feel old. Your Dad retiring is apparently one of them.

Congratulations Dad. And good luck.