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Or develop an illness that prevents you from doing what you always dreamed of doing in retirement....or lose the person with whom you always dreamed of doing it... Retirement can last a long, LONG time!
I don't remember that TZ episode! Are you just talking about regular life?
Best Part of Retirement in Florida:
The feeling of being on summer vacation all the time. Throwing away all the business attire and living in a bathing suit.
Getting income when not working is nice. I only keep track of days for a few things such as day to put out garbage cans and days with low electricity rates during the day. For travel, only look at weekends to ensure not going or coming between LV and SD on high travel days.
We're having a thunderstorm (I love storms) and it's pouring rain and I'm cozy at home and don't have to dash through the deluge to get to my car to drive home...
But everyday is a xxxx day holiday when you're retired!
I spent more years than I care to remember sitting or crawling through insane traffic trying to get to or from my work destinations in southeast Florida. I'd mentally count the years, months, weeks, then days till I could retire and not have to deal with the mind- numbing traffic anymore.
Now, I turn on the local traffic and weather reports in the AM just before I get up, and watch the traffic reports and rejoice that I no longer have to worry about the traffic snarls, the wrecks, the sheer number of souls on the road that make the traffic such a mess.
My worst traffic was when I lived in San Francisco and commuted to Oakland.
19 miles each way.
SF to Oakland took 45 minutes.
Oakland to SF took 90+ minutes to go the 19 miles, with at least 45 of that creeping up to the Bay Bridge toll plaza, while at least 30 cars cut in front of me along the way, slowing me down. Call it at least 2 hours on Friday evenings.
And I realize a lot of folk had a lot worse commute than I did. I have no clue what it is like in New Jersey or DC, but the folks in Los Angeles must live in their cars commuting when they aren't working or sleeping. I don't know how people drive in L.A.
You are darn tootin' I love retirement!
Now I can laugh at the people with their 90 minute commutes while I am at home living in blissful peace. Who am I kidding. I bet that 90 minute Bay Bridge return commute is well over 2 hours today and probably pushing 3 hours on Friday nights.
Fortunately, my federal agency provided free flu shots onsite and most people got one so I rarely got the flu. And my co-workers were older and did not have small vectors (AKA children). But colds were another issue especially if I was on an audit or working long hours to finish a project. This would run me down and I could feel that I was getting sick towards the end of the week so got to spend my weekend in bed The last three years of my career, we hired a lot of younger people with small children and I started to get bad colds that lasted for at least a week. Another good reason to retire!
We were able to call in sick with the administrative assistant. Of course my boss preferred that we call in early, about the time I was sleeping soundly after a night of coughing, etc. but I was able to stretch that to 9 or 10 am since I usually took little sick leave. Others had family members call in for them but I did not have that option.
I was never sickly, but I got the flu for about 2 weeks, twice a year while I lived in San Francisco. I am convinced the culprit was international travel. We had engineers who were immigrants from every continent. Many of them would save up vacation time and then go "home" to visit family and friends for up to a month at a time. I am convinced they would bring germs back with them that I simply was never exposed to and had no immunity. People would go back to China or Vietnam or the Phillipines, Iran, El Salvador, Mexico, on and on -- and come back exposing me to germs I just never had. Not necesarily my co-workers, but I could be served by a waitress who just came back from Egypt or Guatamala.
So I was getting sick a lot during my years living in San Francisco. I moved back to the Sacramento valley, and presto, barely ever sick anymore.
And of course, retirement means even less exposure.
Best Part of Retirement in Florida:
The feeling of being on summer vacation all the time. Throwing away all the business attire and living in a bathing suit.
Fortunately, my federal agency provided free flu shots onsite and most people got one so I rarely got the flu. And my co-workers were older and did not have small vectors (AKA children).
Even worse than the kid vectors were the office workaholics who couldn't bring themselves to stay home while they were spewing germ factories and efficiently passed their contagions on to everyone else. To add insult to injury, because they also didn't tend to stay home to recover from something adequately, they'd inevitably relapse, get even sicker than they were initially, and someone else had to cover for them!
Most years I never got the bugs working their way around the office but if I did I was the last holdout. By that time everyone else had already experienced whatever it was, had commiserated with the other victims, and their sympathy bank was exhausted. None left for me!
Last edited by Parnassia; 06-21-2021 at 04:15 PM..
I "retired" from the daily grind in 2001, so it's basically been two decades of doing exactly as I please. Warning: It's extremely addictive.
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The last three years of my career, we hired a lot of younger people with small children and I started to get bad colds that lasted for at least a week. Another good reason to retire!
