Last month I talked about the fact that I’m not ready to retire ’cause I have a really great job.

And now, the rest of the story.

The other reason I’m hoping my retirement is years down the road is that I don’t have a clue what I would do with myself to keep my sanity if I’m weren’t working.

My husband retired about four years ago, and he’s loving it. He volunteers one or two days a week at a local food bank, he’s in charge of the maintenance crew at our church, he plays bridge once or twice a week, plays golf three or four times a week, is a board member of the Aberdeen Lions and the Salvation Army, is recording secretary for the Special Forces group that gets together once a month up at Fort Lewis, and attends a meeting every month of our classmates from Kelso High School Class of 1966.

In addition to that, he fixes dinner most weeknights, does a great job of taking care of the yard and keeps up with projects around the house. Plus, he can spend hours reading and has a wide variety of TV shows he really enjoys — especially anything on the History channel.

Then there’s my story.

I don’t have any real hobbies and can’t think of any I’d like to start.

I don’t sew and never have. You would think I might have inherited some of my mother’s love for sewing — I can remember her sitting for hours embroidering pillowcases and dishtowels and “runners” that protected the tops of dresser drawers. And she was always darning socks. With a light bulb shoved inside the sock to keep the material taut, she would darn away until you could barely see where the hole had been.

But not me. No way. No sewing for me. In fact I remember when we were first married and Mike had a shirt that needed a new button. I hid that shirt in the back of closet until he forgot about it, and then I gave it to Goodwill!

So many people are fascinated with genealogy. They spend hours researching their family’s heritage, tracking down long-lost relatives, going back centuries. And now there are all those genealogy websites you can visit and places to send your DNA to find out your heritage.

But I’m not at all interested.

Heck, I can only trace my forefathers back to my grandparents. I don’t really care to go back any further than that.

I don’t belong to any service clubs, I can’t see myself volunteering anywhere, and I can’t stand gardening.

My two good friends are terrific gardeners and know everything there is to know about soil, perennials, annuals, pests and pesticides. I, on the other hand, am clueless. Years ago when my mother died, my friends gave me a “color pot.” It was very pretty — a variety of plants with lots of bright colors — and I’m sure I gave them one of those looks that said, “What the heck do I do with this thing?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Sandi said. “Just set it on the back porch, and you can enjoy it all summer.”

A couple of weeks later, when she asked me how the flowers were doing, I had to tell her they were all dead. “When’s the last time you watered it?” she asked. “So I was supposed to water it?” I replied.

So I learned my lesson.

Now, very year around Mother’s Day, I plant eight geraniums in the window box at the front of the house. And I actually water them and even fertilize a couple times during the summer.

But that’s it for gardening (and yardwork). In fact, if it were up to me, I’d Astroturf the whole yard and maybe throw in an area or two of decorative rocks so it wouldn’t look too boring.

I do go to Timber Gym three times a week, go for a walk around the neighborhood at least four nights a week and have handbell practice at church every Wednesday evening.

I do love to bake and cook, but with only two of us at home, there’s only so much of that I can do. And I like to crochet, but only when I’m watching TV – and I can’t handle that for more than two hours an evening.

So that leaves a lot of hours in the week to fill if I’m not working.

That about covers it. I’m hoping to keep working for years to come. I like the people I work with and I really like my job — I like the routine, and of course there’s the paycheck too.

But to be completely honest with you (and myself), I have to confess: A big reason I’m not ready to retire is I don’t do well with change. I like my life the way it is now, and retirement scares the heck out of me.

Karen Barkstrom, The Daily World’s editorial assistant, can be reached at 360-537-3925 or kbarkstrom@thedailyworld.com.