Interesting reads...
I retired in January 2018. Gave notice on the 2nd, done on the 11th. Normally management was asked to give 3 months notice, but with my experience the last two years at work - from upper management, not those I worked with - I didn’t feel the need. I did keep my boss in the loop early on since he made the last few years tolerable. Planned to stay til 65, but left a little after 63.
That said, I love it. Some said leaving in January in a Michigan winter was nuts, but I have no problem keeping busy and rekindling some long dormant hobbies is a joy.
I surely agree with the structure bit...combined with a big dose of selfish freedom.
1st...and surely understandable by this group...don’t sit back and watch or read about news all day. Minimal doses for sanity sake. Enough to keep up but not enough to make a news addict crazy. Turn off the morning news when wifey wanders to work. Maybe take a peek in the early afternoon.
2nd...I spent several months - winter - cleaning out paperwork & crap I really let pile up. It doesn’t stop & it can be cathartic.
3rd...first indulgence to go along with hobby life...new electric guitar, amp, accessories...and relearn. Had a handful of guitars - different types - hanging on bedroom walls. Played a lot in & after college but since then they only seemed to come out when my head needed a fix...surely not often enough for the head fixes I should have had. What I play I write. Relearned a lot of my old songs and when the mood struck, wrote new ones. Put them in the form of videos so I could share. Head to guitar to GarageBand to video to YouTube to Facebook for friends. Therapeutic... but a good session after wifey heads to work can keep me going til mid afternoon when it’s time to put toys away.
4th...don’t do the third thing every day. Get out - all year - walk, take pictures, headphones on...bluetoothed to my phone, enjoy & stay active...STAY ACTIVE!
No more counting...
Be a house husband to the nth degree. As long a wifey works (another 8 months?) dinner on table when she gets home...She texts “leaving”, I respond “K”, and I have 35 minutes...pretty good at it. I keep the house clean, keep laundry in control, keep our two acre yard maintained, all that goes with it...that structure thing. And I let her take the lead as to what she wants to do with her non-work time...with or without me.
Stay in contact with friends I truly appreciate. I have a few planned lunches each month and it great to visit. I have regular sharing with friends on various social media platforms...but also limit the time I spend on them. Wifey might disagree. But it has allowed me to rekindle associations with old Navy (not the store) and college friends. At times, it feels like being in our 20’s again...til pictures happen.
Camp (small camper) when wifey’s vacation schedule allows...and sometimes when it doesn’t. Too much beauty in Michigan not to enjoy it. Done it all our lives & it’s often combined with getting together with kids, other family & those rekindled friends. Gonna be at the Straits for two weeks staring August 25th...in the middle, we’ll walk the Mackinac Bridge on Labor Day...over & back...10 miles. My tenth time.
Funny thing happened in 2018 when I went in to get an absentee ballot for the election...came out as an election worker. So instead of filling & mailing my ballot (which I did), I spent 18 hours at the precinct on Election Day. 6 AM to midnight. It was a long, interesting, rewarding experience...though the last four hours of balancing, reporting, binding & waiting was a bit tiring. Been invited already to do 4 elections next year. Still thinking about it. Not sure I can handle the stress of the presidential election and stay calm & neutral... also was offered the position of Township Clerk. The existing elected official was resigning for business purposes and asked me to take over. Thought about it seriously, but wifey said “no, No, NO NO NO NO!”.
Mentioned wifey may retire next spring. She’ll be 62 in April. Thanks to my too many moves, despite her being a nurse for 40 years, she’s never been somewhere long enough to have a vested pension. And getting kids raised & educated seemed more important than thinking about 401Ks back then. So she is nervous about it. I’ve laid it out in spreadsheets for her and pointed out that we will do a lot better than a lot of other folks we know. I have a good pension, have a good SS amount pending, have a decent cushion 401K, and she has a reasonable SS expectation...and a small 401K. House is paid off. Toys are supplied. We have no extravagant travel plans or other needs.
Built a 48x32 pole barn in preparation for my retirement (and she honestly loves it). Hold 3 vehicles & the camper, kayaks, tools, toolbench & storage, 50” tv, Bluetooth speakers in the rafters which love to blare the music on my phone, a fridge recently purchased for a family reunion last July 4th. Holds the exercise toys taken from the house...weights, elliptical, treadmill (though they seemed to get more use in the house). In other words, it has more crap than I ever plan to move. Building it pretty much put the final stake in the homestead.
I am very happy in retirement, but I always felt comfortable relaxing, being lazy or active, being selfish or involved. One of our three kids lives two miles away & I regularly play with those three granddaughters. Another kid gave us two grandsons...an hour away. Camped with them mid July.
Third kid is married, a chef & lives in our vacationing region. Looking forward to the day Liz is retired and we can wander at will. I think she’s more concerned than me. Tried to explain the difference being when she’s free, our plans aren’t confined to weekends and the 15 days a year she has as “personal time off”. It’ll grow on her. The Labor Day camping trip will make for some interesting conversations & planning. It always does. Might get her retired a bit earlier...I wish.
There...that’s my short response. Forgot how wordy I was did ya now? Thanks for having me back at times.
