FIRE Celebration, What did you do?

[TrvlBug]

A week long trip to Paris .

[scrabbler1]

My last day was rather uneventful. I was trying to get done my last project which I barely did at 4 PM, 45 minutes before I would walk out the door for the last time.


I declined to have a luncheon but my best friend at the office took me out to lunch at our favorite area diner. There was a gathering at my desk in the afternoon where some of my coworkers gave me money they would have spent on the lunch. It came out to about $160. I made a brief speech of thanks and everyone including me returned to work.


My ride home on the train had me getting choked up, as it would be the very last time I would make that long, awful trip home from work. Nearly in tears, I staggered home on the short walk from the LIRR train station. I opened up my apartment door, dropped my stuff, closed the door, and yelled out, "I'm FREE!!!!!"


My friend came over for our weekly Scrabble games and my ladyfriend also came over, a typical Friday night at my place back then.


And that is how my ER began.

[Dog]

My managers and their teams gave me a surprise send off meeting with a video montage to the song "Time of your life" by Green Day. Of course I choked up. No thank you or good-byes from my senior management.
DH and I spent the weekend on Lopez Island and that first evening we celebrated with champagne and fresh crab while listening to Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler sitting by the fire pit overlooking the water and surrounding islands. It was great!


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[Ally]

I worked for a nonprofit and so our board gave me a retirement event and lots of people came from the community. Being an introvert, it was a nightmare being the center of attention. My personal celebration came the next Monday morning when I woke up and didn't have to go to work!

Soon afterwards, we went on a trip with my daughter and 5 grandchildren. It was the first time in 30+ years that my workplace hadn't had to call me on a vacation. 😊


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[Cassius King]

Interesting read, thanks for sharing everyone.

[Cassius King]

I imagine it will be something like this:

[YVRRocketSurgery]

I'm about 6 years away. The celebration goal would be to leave work on a Friday and head on an extended trip with the missus on Saturday.
Hoping we'll have enough Aeroplan points to book a mini-RTW trip in 1st class the year before I retire because demand for these reward seats are sometimes next to impossible.

[qt333]

I went to Disneyland and the Giants/Dodgers season opener.


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[Which Roger]

FIRE celebrations are problematic. Many co-workers who might attend are older and can't afford to retire and wonder how I can, and ditto many friends. So I had the lowest-key group lunch imaginable, and when a relative offered to host a retirement party for me, I declined because almost everyone in attendance would have been older than me and still working and perhaps jealous.

[Senator]

The folks at work got together with Mega-corp money and put on a spread in one of the large conference rooms yesterday.

A 90-person Jimmy John's spread, with soda, chips, and a full sheet cake. There was LOTS of cake. They invited a bunch of people, and I invited quite a few too. They put out a retirement sign-in book, and many people wrote notes. I have not yet read the notes.

I also received a large glass stand up plaque that was engraved thanking me for my dedication and efforts over the years.

So it was a good day. Only a few days left. And I am not working anymore, I am officially a slacker (if I was not already...).

I am ready to be done, and have a small cerebration or my own when the fat lady has finally sung to finalize the deal.

[rdy2go]

Today was my last day, and since I work from home, I went out to breakfast, went to an antique store, talked to a few well-wishers on the phone and sent out the Looney Tunes Porky Pig "That's All Folks!" to some friends in the company. Today may be Thursday but tomorrow and the rest of my life are Saturdays!

[Christine]

Nothing since my last day of work I thought I'd recover from my illness. But over time I realised it was chronic and just never went back to work. I still keep in touch with my two best friends/colleagues.

I guess if I had recovered I'd never find this forum and kept on working far too long!

[kerik68]

My office held a pot luck the week before I left (public sector) and then my last day, a whole bunch of us went out to lunch. DH came and sprang me from cubicle life way before the end of the day and then the next night we had a little party at home with friends. We left the next day on a week long boat trip by ourselves and had the best time ever!

Sadly, DH doesn't retire for about 6.5 years but I've been travelling with him for work. He's self employed.

Congratulations!

[InTheSticks]

We did two weeks in London.

[travelover]

Quote:

A week long trip to Paris .

Quote:

I went to Disneyland

Quote:

We did two weeks in London.

We are saving up for a day trip to Detroit.

[Tom52]

We celebrated retirement with a trip to Key West. Best vacation ever!

[Markola]

Congrats Senator! Sounds like you left on the best terms and with their appreciation.

[RobbieB]

That's nice, good for you!

My micro-corp fed me lunch at Armadillo Willies and gave me $300 at Bass Pro Shops.

I still have the gift card (2 years) going to finish the house before I buy the boat. If I buy the boat first nothing will get done -

[Senator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobbieB That's nice, good for you! My micro-corp fed me lunch at Armadillo Willies and gave me $300 at Bass Pro Shops. I still have the gift card (2 years) going to finish the house before I buy the boat. If I buy the boat first nothing will get done -

Do not wait too long. Sometimes a gift card loses value if not used. That way, after a few years, it is worthless.