You retired better than me. I was in construction, a carpentry contractor. At the end, specifically a stairbuilder. I built houses for 35 years. Mostly upscale stuff, this is the Disney area and has consistently been one of the fastest growing areas in the state. Lotta money and a lotta jobs here.
The end was 2008 when the housing market crashed. The month I voted for Obama I couldn't make the rent on my shop, a 5000 sq ft unit in an industrial park, full of lumber and machinery. The employees helped me move everything out and we locked the doors. I was 55. Since I was an employee of my corporation I was able to collect unemployment. When that ran out there was nothing but food stamps. I found a few side jobs but no one had any money to get repairs done and certainly none to build anything new.
Sort of forced into semi-retirement/unemployed.
I was broke, in debt, eating white bread and vienna sausages. There was no work and I sat right here at this desk and went slowly mad. Suicidal depression is not a happy place but I went there anyway. My ex had me committed to a mental institution. You learn things about people in the psychiatric ward, things you never wanted to know.
After a few weeks there they let me come home with some pretty awesome drugs. There were social worker visits and counseling required.
All the while my physical health is going downhill faster than my mental health. I had problems with my legs. They just weren't working right. Doctors ran tests and found nothing. Blood tests on the psych ward showed I was diabetic, there was something wrong with my liver, and a childhood epilepsy thing came back in the form of dizzy spells.
Now...It aint like I didn't see all this coming, divination was my hobby even then. Before we closed the doors of Absolute Hardwood Stairs Inc. I had filed for disablity, figured I'd get ahead of the rush. Eventually I landed a job washing dishes and doing prep work in a Thai restaurant. Made about $100 a week and only if the owner had it to spare. Maybe $30 if it was a bad week. Times were hard.
One night I came home from work and there was a car in my driveway. My former housekeeper and her 15 year old daughter. Homeless, needed a place to stay. Eventually she abandoned the daughter and went somewhere out of state.
So on top of everything else I had a teenager to raise.
I was 58 when the disability claim finally went through. I quit the restaurant and retired with nothing but a somewhat meager Social Security check. But compared to the way I'd been living it was like manna from heaven. And it came with Medicare!
I've got a nice house, it's paid for. Bankruptcy dissolved all my debts. My car's paid for. I get $1240.00 dollars a month and it's plenty, I'm even able to set a little aside for emergencies and have a couple thousand in savings. In a pinch my ex would help me out if I needed it but mostly I don't. The kid is 25 now and just moved to Maine to marry her girlfriend. It was a sad parting but I'm happy for her. I'm an empty nester now and finally I can walk around the house in my boxers!
I am absolutely loving retirmenent. I was built for this! It's like being a teenager again! Freedom without responsibilities. I can sit on my ass all day long, drink coffee, smoke weed, and eat marvelous food because I'm one of the "amateur chefs" who bakes his own bread and makes everything from scratch. I'm pretty crippled up now and can only be on my feet for a couple hours a day, I can't really go anywhere or do anything, the risk of falling is too great and I refuse to get in a wheelchair. But I don't especially want to go anywhere or do anything. I love it right here with the dog at my feet and the chickens clucking out back, an occasional rooster crowing or the rabbit banging on the door wanting to go in or out.
I have found peace. I'm content and happy.
