My retirement from a successful 34-1/2 year Federal career was set for October 2, 2015 and for about three months I'd been counting down the days. Finally, the time had arrived and the weeks prior to my retirement were filled with farewell visits, phone calls, e-mails, and gifts from present and past co-workers/friends; one-on-one lunches with friends; a team luncheon with my department; and culminated with a Potluck luncheon with the Agency. It was all perfect, even the blustery/rainy day for the Agency potluck held outside under the pavilion. I'm sure in the distant future I'll be with friends and one of us will say, "Remember how rainy and windy it was the day of our going away luncheon?" and we'll smile at the memory.
Now, it's onto the next phase of life and time to slow down a bit. I'm looking forward to lingering over my coffee in the morning; focusing on my art; exercising with energy; being able to stay awake past 9:30 in the evenings to watch movies with my family; and working at my own pace and setting my own schedule. I would like to spend four hours a day painting watercolors and becoming more established with my art business; however, after just one week, I've discovered that I most likely will have to tweak my focus as sometimes the day just dictates a different schedule. I've also realized that it's going to take some time to quit the habits of 34-1/2 years and learn that I don't have to get up everyday at 5:30 and can sleep in until my internal alarm wakes me up, or I now have time to fix a healthier breakfast and linger over my coffee, or that I don't have to rush to get all my 'to do's' finished in a day. Eventually it will sink in that there's tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, and that makes me smile.
