Wednesday, August 11, 2010

P.j.'s and retirement

Does retirement mean that one stays in one's p.j.'s until noon?  All you retirees out there, I talking to you.  Do you find that the morning is nearly gone, and you are still sporting your pajamas?  My husband and I have even been wondering if p.j.'s are the new "day wear" articles of clothing that one can wear to just about any place on any occasion.  It seems that outfits that looks suspiciously like p.j.'s show up everywhere.

 I'm not admitting to what time of day my dear hubby and I have finally gotten dressed lately.  Let's just say that we treasure our mornings on the back porch.  We head to our comfy porch glider, coffee cup and newspapers in hand, as soon as we roll out of bed anywhere between 7:00 or 8:00 in the morning.  An hour or two later, we are usually still there.  By roughly 9:00 or 9:30, we've drunk our coffee, eaten our breakfast,  read two newspapers, checked our email and facebook accounts via our BlackBerries, admired the roses, commented on the tomatoes, enjoyed the birds seen dipping in the bird bath for a drink or a bath, and thought about actually getting something done.

From my vantage point on the back porch, I can see that I need to deadhead the roses I've admired, trim back the non-blooming delphiniums, pull weeds, or plant the flowers I bought the day before.  While thinking of the tasks that need to be done, I am very tempted at that point to leave the porch, walk to the shed, get my gardening tools, my hat and gardening gloves, and get to work before the nice, cool, morning shaded yard gets hot.  When I say tempted, I mean, I am tempted to just go work in the yard while still clad in my p.j.'s.

Then, the voice of my grandmother, or someone else who taught me that I should dress appropriately when I am out in public, pops into my head.  So far, I've not succumbed to working in the yard in my sleepwear.  I've questioned why I shouldn't.  After all, I used to garden or work in the yard in my bathing suit.  I even have rationalized that gardening in p.j.'s would not offend the neighbors who might see me nearly as much as if I gardened in my bathing suit!

 I've even thought about the woman I read about who lived in Boulder and liked to garden nude.  Her neighbors did not approve.  I haven't considered gardening in the buff, just in my p.j.'s.  So far, my long practiced sense of propriety has won out.  I change into my shorts and t-shirt before I even pull one weed.  I know it is a slippery, downhill slope that leads to never getting out of my p.j.'s until who knows when if I start working outside in them.

8 comments:

  1. Considering the fact that I'm reading this at 5 pm, after working at home all day, wearing the same clothes I slept in last night (not quite pjs), I find this very funny.

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  2. Love your article, Sally. I can't seem to get house work done in the morning if I am not in my sleepware. I would say PJ's but that is not really what I sleep in. If someone happens to come to the door, in the a.m., I feel comfortable in my attire to be able to answer the door. I will tell you that I almost took the trash out today, until Joe said "you are still in your night gown." Another thought on retirement. I used to be at work at6am, so I would wake at 4:10am. One of my retirement rules, that I adhere to, never get out of bed before 7am. So far I have to say that this is one rule that suits me just fine. Enjoy your backyard, weeds, spent flowers, etc. and all. Kathy Anne

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  3. I chuckled at your post. My sister introduced me last year to wonderful, comfortable, pjs, and I wish I could live in them. I get quite a lot done in the morning before I get dressed for the day. Sometimes I put that off because my brain says I have to take a shower and wash my hair before I get dressed.

    Three days a week Art and I walk to an exercise class. For those days, I need to dress in walking gear that works for exercise. I wonder if I could wear my pjs? Maybe if I bought a pair in pale denim.

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  4. So as long as everyone is confessing...I also have been known to putter around the house until noon in my PJs. I also will pull weeds in the back yard in my jammies...but there's no one to see me where we live. I can't quite pull off that casual look. Anyone with half a brain can figure out I haven't showered since my hair sticks out in all directions. But so what? My days of punching the clock are done...and, damm life is good!

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  5. I'm not sure if it's about retirement, or just a sign of the times. Many a 20something walks their dog in their p.j.s on a Saturday morning. They even go to the coffee shop or neighborhood market in them. Me, even though I'm still working and will be for many years to come, doesn't get dress until 2pm on the weekend...

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  6. I think all of you ladies must live in wonderful, safe neighbourhoods. I wouldn't dream of walking around in PJs outside in Cape town. Someone would have me committed. Although I am 'retired' in the sense that I don't work any more, my husband still does. But I've never been a PJ person. Every day, the first thing I do when I crawl out of bed is shower, dress and put my make-up on. Can't do anything in PJs. Correction, if I really want to indulge and say, catch up on my reading, I will just stay in bed. My parents, both long-lived, were up early and at it doing important 'jobs' all day long until they were nearly ninety and could still see.

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  7. Shhhh. Some days, I don't get dressed at all.

    Scandalous.

    I live in a rural area, so it doesn't really matter if I go out in the pjs, and I frequently sit on my lovely big deck and read much of the day.

    I absolutely love being retired, but I have to admit that it took me 5 years to fight down the urge to be doing something "useful" a.l.l...t.h.e....t.i.m.e !

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  8. Summer days added to the retirement allow for a varied dress code as far as I'm concerned. It's 4pm and I'm in lounge wear happily typing away.

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