Blessings, Medicare, and a Year Without Sugar: A Thanksgiving Reflection

Blessings—that's what I experienced today. In my usual way, I waited until the absolute last minute (literally, the last day) to get PB signed up for Medicare. I knew it had to be done by today, maybe tomorrow at the latest, but I wasn’t about to risk missing the deadline. Last year, I read that he needed to apply for Medicare no later than one month before his 65th birthday, which is next month on the 4th. Missing the deadline could mean hefty, lifelong penalties. The problem? We needed specific paperwork and IDs we didn’t have—or couldn’t find. And PB, being the wonderfully stubborn man he is, isn’t the type to willingly hunt down “papers, please.”

He assured me he knew exactly where these documents were and promised to dig them out by yesterday. Well, in a classic Murphy’s Law moment, he pulled a bunch of ammo boxes out of storage, convinced they contained what we needed. Spoiler alert: they were filled with rice and beans. Yes, rice and beans—the emergency stash we’ve been hoarding in case the world decides to end.

Fast forward to today. I’d been helping a neighbor clear junk from her land when I got home to find a small stack of papers sitting on the porch steps. Lo and behold, they included everything we needed for proper ID! Victory, right?

I hopped online to start the Medicare signup process. Since PB had already applied for early Social Security retirement benefits, I discovered it was a linked process. Sure enough, when I got to the Medicare section, surprise! He was already enrolled. It was all taken care of, and I didn’t need to do a thing. All that worrying and procrastinating over what I thought would be a bureaucratic nightmare—and it was already done.

The silver lining? We found some important papers we’d both been needing. That got me thinking about when my turn comes to file for early retirement. You can bet your bottom dollar I won’t wait until I’m 65—or whatever age the powers-that-be decide we’re allowed to get a fraction of what we paid in. By the time it’s my turn, either I’ll have forgotten how to navigate the process, or everything will have changed anyway, forcing me to start from scratch.

I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful. Ours was filled with blessings. I made two batches of turkey carcass soup—one from our turkey and another from a part-time neighbor who didn’t want to take their leftovers home. They dropped them off on their way out, and we happily made good use of them.

On a side note, I’ve stuck with my sugar-free lifestyle, even through all the tempting desserts. Not eating pumpkin pie was tough, but I made my own version: a can of pumpkin purée mixed with monk fruit/allulose powder and topped with roasted pecans. It wasn’t quite the same, but it hit the spot with just enough sweetness and crunch to keep me satisfied.

It’s been about a year now since I gave up sugar—no adding it, no sneaking it in prepared foods. Let me tell you, it’s taken the full year to get past the cravings. They say quitting sugar is as hard as quitting hardcore drugs. I can’t speak to that, but sugar withdrawal? It’s no joke.

Thanks for reading! How was your Thanksgiving?

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Wretha,

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