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I still remember my last trip out the door and down the elevator. I still remember the next day when I came back to the parking garage to turn in my gizmo that let me into the garage. I still remember when I got in my car and left town.
It took me six months or so to unwind from it all, though.
I've never thought of it that way. I forgot to even think about it this past October. My last work date was three work days before Halloween in 2006. My last day on the payroll was Oct 31.
I do remember that I was terribly excited on my last day of work though. I thought I would vibrate off the walls. I went home well before closing. Said goodbye and went home.
I had an amazing gift of early retirement, and I grasped it with both hands and never looked back.
I like that sentiment, but retirement could just as well be the last time you turn off the light switch and lock the door, knowing you'll never be back. Both appear to be pretty monumental events - that I look forward to.
That's when it registered with me! (As I left, I remember thinking, "You are officially retired and will never have to get-up and go to work again!") - Beyond that, specific days and dates seem to flow together ... We even stopped wearing watches, much less watching the calendar!
My last day of work was Tuesday, Februaury 28, 2001. As it turns out, Ash Wednesday was on March 1 that year so I ended up giving up work for Lent. I also hopped a plane at 6:30 in the morning for two weeks in Hawaii.
Never thought of it. Working in a public school system, on a teachers contract, even though technically it was July 1st, it didn't seem real until end of August when all the staff was going back to work and I wasn't. Of course getting the first pension check at the beginning of August helped, and what really did it was landing in Europe for a two week vacation on the first day of the new school year. Yes, I really was retired!
I don't think of my retirement day as an anniversary really. Usually the date comes and goes but it will come to mind at some point..hey it's been 4 years since I retired. The last day I worked was 10-15-09. I'll never forget that day, I was so elated and stayed that way for months and months afterward!
I am like so many in that I now have to think if asked how long I have been retired. I moved on long ago to new phase of life and really give past work little thought.
Retirement begins the first day you sleep in, then wake up and say "I never need to go to work [there] again!"
OK, sleep in. Retirement for me was my actual retirement date. The day before is when I showed up in a warm-up suit, cleaned out my office, said goodbye to all my staff and left work early. What were they going to do, fire me?
As for sleeping in, that didn't occur for at least a month. It took that long for my body clock to stop awakening me at 5:30 a.m. which is when I arose for at least the last 20 of my working years.
Retirement begins the first day you sleep in, then wake up and say "I never need to go to work [there] again!"
I agree. My extra vacation was just paid to me in my last check. My extra sick leave made my work history longer; or something like that. I got up December 1, 2006, and said, "I want to go to the beach and we did.
Hey, I am about to have another anniversary--number 7. And I am still trying to clean out the "stuff" and get the house to my ideal condition. I fear that will never happen.
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