YOYO is not a cello player in my house

Years ago when I was living in Florida, I met a fellow quilter who was a “snowbird.” She lived in some cold place in the winter and when her husband retired, they started visiting Florida in the snowy months. She showed me around the condo she rented and opened her kitchen cabinets. Wow… all I saw was breakfast foods. I tried not to say anything but she laughed and said , “When my husband retired, I retired also.” What did that mean?  Well apparently all those chores I had assumed would go on forever could come to an end: cleaning, cooking…. you can make a long list. But child rearing, at least, was over.  This couple ate “Florida style”= OUT.

I thought about that and how I could “retire” as well. It has taken time. I have never really liked cooking and after all those years of feeding a family of 6, the enthusiasm was waning. Slowly, Sea became the “left-over king” and would eat what was sitting around in the fridge. I would cook meals with that in mind. Now he will investigate the fridge every evening and suggest a menu with what is there. So we now have meals with new names:
YOYO is You are On Your Own. All breakfasts and lunches fall into that catagory. I tell my friends we were married for better or worse, but not for lunch.

Deja Vu is easy. It is whatever I did cook when the mood hit me, and we need to have it again before it becomes the last category of meals which is….

 MUST-GO…. as in – eat it before it turns green, fuzzy or stinks. It can be lunch or dinner and we frequently have different meals when we eat together. Sea is the micro-wave king and will often heat it up for me while I watch the news. After all, when he retired, I did too.

(The cleaning lady takes care of the other misery of housekeeping.)

So finally, I too, am retired. I retired from teaching two years after he retired from his job. I think that helped him become independent in the kitchen…..it was that or starve.