Road in Retirement

    Disabled. In all my years of life, I never gave much thought to that word. I mean, I knew people who struggled physically but never envisioned it for myself. I saw how people interacted with the disabled, but I had no prescient as to that lifestyle being in my future.     My mind is filled with idea of being disabled because according to Social Security I am officially labeled as disabled. It was with mixed emotions that I received the verdict via a phone notification. The little communication tool brought me a communique that rattled my view of myself. On the one hand, it was good news  that I had been deemed disabled by Social Security. Yet it was bad news I heard that day as well. I had learned early on in this process that sixty-five percent of disability applicants are initially denied. Yet here I was, one of thirty-five percent. Whoopie! Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket.      I am thankful having the label and the monetary assistance offered by Social Security. At the same

    Quiet. I heard that word often exclaimed toward me when I was a child. The irony of hearing this word screamed in my direction, always seemed weird to me The old adage "Do as I say, not as I do" certainly rang true to me then. But the silence yearned for back then is a different kind of isolation sought after today.            Today my world revolves around solitude. Only in some ways the quiet around me seems almost forced. And it is kind of. I may be retired, but I'm not saying I longed to be. Had I not had physical challenges, retirement would be as far away from me as a North Dakota horizon. Despite the fact of my forced seclusion, I have to admit this solitary lifestyle is growing on me.     In my former life, I was a doer. If I saw a need, I did. One time a friend and I were in a good PD-class where we were learning about something in which we were interested in learning. She turned to me and expressed her desire to see something like the format we were experien