Leaving it all behind
Looking at the calendar I realized that I have been retired for more than a decade. Where does the time go? Having all those extra hours to my credit did not allow me to change the world. Nor did I expect it to. When I attended the seminar that explained to me how being retired was going to change my life I came away with one sentence. Every day is now going to be Saturday. I had no great attachment to Saturday but I expected it to be pleasant. And looking back it has been. It also allows me to look at what it was like to transition from working to not working. Going beyond that final afternoon when I picked up my small box of belongings and headed for the bus stop I had already been in preparation for some time. That I even had the forplanning to get a box to hold my coffee cup shows that I had this in control. And on the bus people do not notice. In fact I think that it was only the clerk at my local coffee shop who clued in that I was about to do something very different with my life. The question was asked and I gave one of those explanations that is used in a social situation. Yes I’m going to retire this weekend and yes I have mapped out the rest of my life and yes I’m looking forward to it. Not much else you can say. The day that I actually finished work was uneventful. The office was still on summer hours and so by Friday the number of people still at their desks was down too a skeleton crew. I can only wonder what that situation is like for someone who actually has responsibility for what goes on in their office. How do they plan ahead for the moment when they stop answering the telephone and hand in their dorky. Something you only do once. If you were to ask do I miss answering the phone all the time, the answer is clear I do not miss it at all. Very few of my calls were really important. I gave support to others who get stressed over the tiny things. And if I was asked would I want to do life over again? Hardly. My efforts were hardly missed. In fact I remember talking to someone months after my retirement and they were unaware that I had left the building.
