things i've already learned about retirement

After less than two days of retirement, I've already learned/realized several things.

1.  It would be very easy to sit in my chair all day, excluding the time spent fetching food, letting dogs out and back in, etc.  Note:  I have not done this.  I figured this out very early yesterday morning and if there's one thing I am, it's a getter-doner.  So I've made sure I got some stuff done each day.  Like, for example, I did the laundry yesterday.  Today I folded it and put it away.  And I washed the bedding and have clean sheets and blankets to sleep under tonight.  I met Jack, Jr, Jessie and her two youngest kids for lunch today.  Also today, I wandered through the house and made a list of projects--big and small--to keep myself busy and productive.  This list goes along with the list I made when first considering retirement that included daily tasks and/or options but also numerous potential vacation spots to plan for and dream about.  I love me a good list and I have a couple of good ones now.
2.  I can now spread over an entire week all of the tasks I used to do in two or three days of a weekend.  This is the definition of glorious.  Look it up in the dictionary.  Or someplace.  Or don't.  But it is awesome to have that extra 40+ hours to use however I choose.
3.  I've been doing all of the things for so long that I thought it would take me some big amount of time to slow down.  That was a big misunderstanding in my head.  This is like Christmas break without the stress, which is the main reason why I retired.  Lower the stress level.
4.  Also, yes to pancakes.

seventeen years four months and six days later (approximately)

Right now, I'm sitting at home in my chair by the fire looking out over the deck and back yard on a Monday morning.  For all these past years, I would have been sitting at my desk at work.  But last Thursday, January 26, 2017, was my last day of work.

I retired.

I was done.  And I am done with that stage of life.  It was time to move on into a new stage of life--one of actually living every day instead of slogging through yet another day.

Things I will not miss:

• Getting up and dressed and made up early.
• Thinking in my head that I am a valuable contributor while idling away the day waiting for work or interactions or conversation.

Things I will miss:

• Interactions with coworkers, good people.
• The thrill of a project--figuring it out and completing it.
• The beautiful view out of my office windows.
• Driving to and from work with Jack.
• Lunch with Jack.
• My paycheck.  Probably.  At least a little.

Things I am looking forward to:

• Free time
• More--skiing, reading, movies, time with kids, grandkids, parents, friends, etc., etc., etc.,
• Gardening
• Cleaning/Organizing/etc., etc., etc.
• Projects--big and small
• Travel--road trips (short and long), fly-away trips, etc., etc., etc.
• Jack's retirement--which should have happened on the same day as mine but for an annoying management snafu that will hopefully be resolved soon
• Naps

One of my major goals is to improve the behavior of the animals I live with.  Everybody needs to settle down and learn to get along with each other.  I will be conducting extensive research into how to get dogs to stop barking at EVERYTHING; also how to stop dogs from chasing the cats EVERY.TIME they see each other.  Seriously.  Just calm down you guys. We are now together in the chill-out time of life.

And we're going to rock this.