My dad wanted to "have less responsibility and more time with is grandchildren" and he wanted to continue golfing and saving some buck for real retirement. So he fake retired. He is supposed to work three-quarters time, three quarters of the year. He isn't a dean of anything or a VP of that department. He's a guy who works for Grinnell doing some recruiting and a little of this and that.
This means that my mom is going to "have less responsibility and more time with is grandchildren." I can tell that she wants to be free of all of this stuff she has. She wants to have less, do less, and be still more. She wants to be with her friends and family. She and my dad are going to have more time together.
I'm learning a few things about fake retirement. When your parents fake-retire they downsize.
They send you lots of good furniture (that your brother may one day fight you for). They move home. They are surrounded by their old friends and they are jolly. Jollier. More relaxed.
Still they are grieving this great (and fake) life change. They look back on the hard work of the last 40 years and they are reflecting on the experiences and friendships they have collected. And each experience and friendship has a keepsake connected to it. A Hollie Hobie stained glass figure. An unsent card you wrote to an old friend, who was beloved by your parents. A crumbling corsage from some dance. They send you some dishes you may want and a few childhood keepsakes that you mentioned you want. And they want less responsibility and yet they don't want to let go of it all. So they ship all this useless junk to you.
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