Things we can occupy ourselves with after we retired, having the chances, of interacting with others with whom we had nothing in common with from before, broadening up our own horizons in life, translated…
There was that male classmate who’s new to our planters course, he lived upstairs from the local temples, being retired for awhile, as he’d gone out for a stroll, he saw the land for rent, and decided, that he wanted, to be a part of the planters community.
This new classmate, although he’d never raised any vegetables before, he had some interesting thoughts, he’d dug up a pond to keep the fish, and used the water from within the pond as irrigation for the vegetable gardens, said that it was a “symbiotic relationship of the fish and vegetables”. Several days later, we’d gone to visit, and, couldn’t help, but commend him for the work. His patch was square like the pieces of bean curd, with absolutely, NO sight of weeds, what was surprising was, that square pond, he’d dug up, using his hoe.
Aunty Chen who is also in her seventies had planted here for over a decade, her land was 2.5 times mine, she’d taken in a few stray cats, we all called her “principal”. As the principal saw the new classmate’s fish in the pond, she’d, reminded me kindly, “Careful, these fish would turn into the raw fish, served to the cat who comes by my garden.” After he’d heard, he’d smiled then replied, “Don’t worry, I’ll prepare some wasabi for your cat then”, then, everybody burst out laughing.
On this afternoon, the new classmate left in a hurry. Normally, he’d, taken his sweet time. The principal of our planters school asked where he was rushing off to? He told her he’d neglected the time, and that he’d needed to go catch some monsters. The principal was reminded, that he’d lived above the temples, and asked him what kind of monsters he was catching? He’d smiled then told her, “The hungry monster”, and this made the principal laugh so hard she’d almost, threw her back out.
Since our new classmate came, laughter is the thing we don’t have a shortage of in the planters academy. I’d asked him how he’d passed his time before he came to the planters group? He’d told me he was raising the “retirement hens”, then, I became, confused. He’d smiled and explained, the “retired hens” were the ones the chicken farms kicked out, at most, he’d kept 150 of them, and, after he’d, raised them for a bit, they’d started, producing the eggs again.
I’d told him, that it was because they’d become, happier, the new classmate said, “That sounds right, just like I am.”
And so, this group of retirees found the commonality of interest: planting vegetables, and they interacted with one another regularly, helping each other stay active, bringing laughter to one another’s life, this would be a great way to live out one’s own retirement, isn’t it?