Wife Martha, the Gracious Mistress Of The Parsonage, asked me a off-the-cuff question last week.
“Well, my dear, have you come up with a new hobby yet?”
I’ve been retired for about four years. I have a weekly Sunday morning service at an assisted living facility, several writing projects on my desk, and I produce three weekly radio programs.
When she asked me that question, I asked in return, “What’s your definition of a hobby?”
She hesitated for a moment and then said sternly, “A hobby is something you do for fun.”
“Perhaps,” I said with a twinkle in my eye, “my marriage to you is my primary hobby.”
The one thing that has my attention is what I like to call “Snoozing.”
Before I retired, I didn’t think much about it, and of course, I didn’t do too much about it either. However, after four years, I’ve developed a great hobby I call Snoozing.
The fantastic thing about snoozing is you can do it just about anywhere — except behind the steering wheel in your vehicle.
It was last week when Martha asked me about my new hobby. “Do you have a new hobby for your retirement time?”
I looked at her and said most sweetly, “Yes, my dear I do have a new hobby that I’m very excited about.”
Well, that excited her, “Oh, please tell me about your new hobby. Maybe we can do it together.”
“I call my new hobby ‘Snoozing.’ It’s taken me several years to practice it to perfection. And I must say I’m very close to perfecting this new hobby.”
“What?” she said. “How can snoozing be a hobby?”
“Don’t you remember when I just retired you told me that a hobby was something you do for fun?”
Of course, I knew I was talking to my wife, who has quite a few hobbies. At the end of our house, she has a “craft room.”
I can’t tell all the stuff she does in that little room. I once walked into it and got lost, which took me three hours to find my way out. I’m not going to collaborate with her and her hobbies.
Everybody has a different view of their hobby, which they enjoy doing. When I was younger, I would never have considered snoozing to be a hobby. I had so many things to do, so little time to do them, that snoozing was never on my calendar.
As I grow older, my energy has become limited. I have prepared myself for taking a short snooze in the morning, a longer snooze in the afternoon, and a short snooze right after dinner. I’ve never felt better than after finishing one.
Solomon said something that caught my attention.
“There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.”
— Ecclesiastes 2: 24
I’ve often been so caught up with work that there was no place in my life for laughter. I plan to make up for that in retirement. So far, I am making good on that.
Dr. Snyder is a former pastor who lives with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage, wife Martha, in Ocala, Fla. His email is [email protected].
