Retired men and their rocking chairs

Once a person retires from employment, he is worried about how to spend the day and his rocking chair takes him into flights of fancy that knows no boundaries.
As long as he was employed, he had a set routine and all his activities were on a graduated scale and, more or less, predictable. Most of these fell in the must-do category like get up from bed, travel to work, remain occupied in the office till pack-up time, and return home.
Then there were the activities that needed to be attended to but, could be delegated to the better half – like withdrawing money from the bank, going to the post office, meeting teacher in the school, buying groceries and vegetables.

However, once he reaches his sunset days, he is worried about how to spend the day with very little to do. And, it is then that, occupying the rocking chair, he retreats into a shell. He broods over the past and repents on his lost opportunities in every walk of life. These could relate to his childhood, his love life, his work life and, in order to justify his actions or inactions, he builds up cases in his mind and metes out punishment.
The idle mind is known as the Devil’s Workshop - and, he transforms into a Devil.
In between, his mind wanders to foods.
The in-charge of the kitchen is his wife and she is very strict about what he eats. No this and no that – the word ‘no’ is always on her lips because she does not want to see him suffer from ulcers or diabetes or indigestion. She does not realize that he is suffering from a longing of banned foods like deep fries and sweets and ice-creams.
Going back to this old man in his rocking chair – he gradually begins to forget names. He hates to admit it but, it is an undeniable fact of life that, as age creeps up on a person, he gradually loses out on his senses. He may put up a bold front but, he just cannot remember the name of someone very dear to him. He can recognize him but, the name evades him.
However, time and tide wait for no man and, in spite of restricted mobility, in spite of being dependent on others for small jobs, and in spite of losing control of some bodily functions, he grins and bears it all. In his mind he hears the message – you can never put a good man down. (to be continued …)

(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)
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