It wasn’t until my friend Amy stated “So you are really going to be retired now” that I realized that I never really did retire. I mean, I quit my descent paying job of 30 years without working the extra years other people often worked. But then I traveled. Then I had several temp jobs. Then I did a lot of contract work. Then I worked part-time and traveled some more. Hmmmmmmmmm I see a pattern.
But I got a call last week from my part-time job: commit to 10-15 hours a week or that’s it. A completely reasonable request and who wouldn’t want a job at home for 10-15 hours a week working with a great group of people and making a little extra money!?
But even if I thought of it as 10 hours a week, what else could I do with that time?
When I very first started writing in 2018, I thought of my new life post-work as a “Retirement Experiment.” I had always assumed I would work forever like my parents, so the notion of “not working” was confusing and frightening. I guess the experiment went a bit off the rails, when I think of it that way.
And now I’ve come to realize I am not very comfortable sitting still for long. Have I always been this way? My career job had me movin’ and groovin’ every single day with extreme levels of stress and demands. Was that why I stayed so long? Do I secretly thrive on nonstop motion?
So I made my decision to quit my job for good and my evening went emotionally sideways. Two sets of plans fell through within an hour and I started acting weird, uncomfortable, agitated for no reason. Mind you, these were plans I really didn’t care that much about and stuff comes up all the time, so what was my problem!?
Oh yeah, I retired. Again. Today.
Photo: On our way to the eclipse, we needed to stop, stretch and get something quick/healthy to eat. Coincidentally Katie heard about a Florence, Alabama, which ended up being great! Our first choice coffee shop was “Closed: Gone to Eclipse. YOLO” Sometimes the best laid plans are no plans at all!
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