Downhill from here!

[linkerbink]

Today is a minor milestone (the major one comes later this month!). This is my last month at work, with the end of the road coming on the 29th. The sense of relief is growing...I can hardly anticipate the euphoria I'll probably feel come January 2nd when all my cohorts are returning to the office and I'm sleeping in! I only have to walk in the office door 18 more times! My colleagues are happy for me and will have a farewell party for me later this month. My best friend here will be sticking it out for one more year til this time 2007 (needs the health benefit), and every day she says she wishes the two of us were walking out together!

I may not be as ER'd as some of you (59 1/2), but as I had originally assumed I'd work til 66, this is EARLY! I don't post much, but I'm a regular reader and as a result I know I'm doing the right thing. Thanks for the support, indirect as it may have been!

 

[tomc5179]

RIGHT ON!!!!!!!

I would imagine it would feel like you're getting a second christmas on January 2.

I've got a few more years to go, but I keep imagining what it's going to feel like. I think it's gonna feel PRETTY GOOD!!!!

Congrats on surviving the rat race!

 

[Martha]

Congratulations Linkerblink! So what do you plan on doing all day?

 

[linkerbink]

Well, so far my standard answer to that question has been "Whatever I want!" But I will be doing volunteer work at our local humane society shelter, plus church work. Also plan to take scuba diving lessons and pick up on my digital photography as well. Then there's all the work around the house that's been calling to me for the past few years...the basement, etc.! But for some reason that doesn't sound much like work to me (at least right now it doesn't!)

 

[dumpster56]

Good luck!!Congrats

 

[scrinch]

You're still going in to the office just like you have for the past umpteen years. That hasn't changed yet. But you feel different. It is funny how just having a plan and anticipating its results can do so much to lighten the mental load. Enjoy the anticipation...like a kid does at Christmas. In a different way, it can be almost as pleasureable as Christmas morning itself! Kind of like being on your way home from a romantic movie with your significant other when you were 22. Remember that? Anticipation.

 

[youbet]

I may not be as ER'd as some of you (59 1/2), but as I had originally assumed I'd work til 66, this is EARLY!

59 1/2 is early linkerbink......and you are gona love it! Like you, I always figured I'd be stuck in the harness until my mid-60's but managed to escape just short of birthday #59. The first five months has been super and that's how it will be for you too. Congratulations!

 

[Dreamer]

Congratulations! You are really going to enjoy it. It has been a little over 6 months for me and I still have days where it hits me all over again that I don't have to go back into that office. I can make plans and go anywhere virtually anytime I want. It is such a great feeling.

You will find plenty to do. I am starting to feel a little overwhelmed for this month. Our Advent Festival is tomorrow and I volunteered for one of the crafts (I am not a crafty person). The church asked me to bake 6 dozen cookies for their cookie walk and a club that I joined after retiring is having a cookie walk one week later and I need to bake 250 cookies for it. Of course, there is the normal Christmas things that need to get done. I am already looking forward to 01/03/07 and Hawaii! Oh well, it would be worse if I was still working and trying to get this all done!

 

[Helen]

Congratulations on reaching a huge goal! I hope you have time to post here and let us know what your doing.

 

[linkerbink]

Thank you, everyone, for your kind words of encouragement and good will. I'm expecting that this half of my life will be as exciting as the first...maybe even more so, as I will have more control over the excitement! I haven't planned anything specific as yet, just want to enjoy the feeling that I won't have to answer to anyone but myself. I will still be consulting this board to benefit from your vast experience in this new phase of life.

 

[dunc0029]

Let me just add my congratulations. I can only imagine what it must feel like. It must be great coming to work each day, knowing you are one day closer. I'm still counting in years, but it does help me to think in terms of counting down. Best wishes to you.