Things that make you happy to be retired

[American-Canadian]

The joy of throwing away my work wardrobe -- skirts, etc. NEVER AGAIN will I wear a skirt!!

Wardrobe is now wash-and-wear and WAY scaled down.

 

[Alan]

I enjoy not having to take a nap.

Since I've been RE'ed I've stopped traveling extensively on business and thinking about work problems and issues all the time.

Consequently I never nap, I never even fall asleep on long journeys. I expect that along with lower stress levels I'm exercising much more, getting a lot more fresh air and sleeping better at night has eliminated the need to nap during the day.

 

[rescueme]

The thing that makes me happy is being able to take a nap whenever I want to.....

+1.

Also, not having to drive to/from wo*k in bad weather (whatever it may be).

 

[East Texas]

+1.

Also, not having to drive to/from wo*k in bad weather (whatever it may be).

There you go.... using that four letter word again. Bad rescue, bad rescue....

 

[Lsbcal]

Running in the morning sun and thinking about what I want to accomplish today. Let's see ... mow the lawn ... or read that science book ... or visit the library ... or read that mystery novel ... or just bag it.

 

[omni550]

Listening to some awful w*rk stories when I meet former co-workers for lunch or at parties...and just being able to smile (because I don't have to deal with the politics/meetings/stupid decisions/last minute demands any more).

omni

 

[Major Tom]

Having the time to pursue my hobby of ham radio. I get to build radios all day long if I want and blog about them and luckily, it doesn't require too much money to buy all the parts I need. As a teenager I did this, but school got in the way. Now, not much at all gets in the way. I have the time - and a little bit of cash, to fiddle with my hobby all day.

One of my other teenage dreams was the girl thing and, well, I got to do that (in a manner of speaking) along the way

 

[FreeAtLast]

I have been semi retired for 5 or six years now and the most important thing that I have done is have the time to take better care of my health and loose weight. i am in good shape and will probably live longer than if I had continued to work FT and continued to neglect some health issues.

It is really nice not having to rush to work and rush home and rush to get to bed and rush to wake up and get back into the office.

 

[bbbamI]

I've talked about all kinds of things that make me happy to be retired.

But...I've left one out.

So...here goes....

I love being able to go to the bathroom anytime I want.

So there ya go.

 

[harley]

I would have been caught up in this traffic jam for hours. Many of my former co-workers suffered though this yesterday.

From wtop.com - A truck fire held traffic on westbound Interstate 66 at a standstill for hours Tuesday afternoon, resulting in a disastrous evening commute for motorists in Northern Virginia.

WTOP's Bob Marbourg says a truck carrying hay was burning after Exit 60 for Route 123 and before Exit 57 for Route 50 . Virginia State Police say they received reports of the fire at about 1:30 p.m.

Westbound lanes of traffic were stopped for more than three hours, with the northbound ramp from Route 123 to westbound I-66 closing during the afternoon. That ramp has since reopened.

Residual delays and traffic jams occurred into the evening, with Route 123, Route 50 and other alternative routes in Virginia jammed with drivers trying to avoid delays.

Traffic reopened on I-66 around 6:30 p.m.

DD was caught in this yesterday, trying to head south on 28 past 50 to pick up DGD. While she sat in traffic she called me and was p!ssing and moaning about it. I [-]told her to suck it up and quit bellyaching, since I'd done my time for 25+ years[/-] was properly sympathetic.

 

[TargaDave]

I love being able to go to the bathroom anytime I want.

So you were denied bathroom privileges in your working days? Well there's a new one


Thought about it and beyond the typical self indulgent lazy stuff, the thing that makes me most happy is spending lots more time with the wife and kids. Got both daughters up and riding this year, and at their request! And no, I won't be teachin the wife, suicidal I am not..... Over the 4th I had 6 females, ages 13 to 16 out tubing for the day. Another very unique ER experience

 

[East Texas]

So you were denied bathroom privileges in your working days? Well there's a new one

I agree with that statement! It was hard some days to fit in bathroom breaks with all the meetings and deadlines.

 

[W2R]

I agree with that statement! It was hard some days to fit in bathroom breaks with all the meetings and deadlines.

Not to mention long telecons. I do NOT miss telecons one bit!

 

[freebird5825]

There are sooooooo many reasons...
No boring meetings, no food fights over funding, no deadlines to submit yet more useless paperw*rk, no prima donna personalities to deal with.

I believe the biggest reason is the complete control over my own schedule and what I do for the day (except when Mr B has things we both need to attend).
Once in a while, we will see traffic pick up in the late afternoon when people are released from w*rk.
We both grin at each other and say something like "It's tough being retired, eh?"

 

[Bestwifeever]

I've talked about all kinds of things that make me happy to be retired.

But...I've left one out.

So...here goes....

I love being able to go to the bathroom anytime I want.

So there ya go.

(Sometimes I thought I was going to break out into the pee-pee dance!)

 

[Blackwoodt]

Posts like this are torture for us poor unfortunates that have not yet pulled the plug. Nevertheless, its music to my ears and gives me something to look forward to.

+1

My commute to work is anywhere from 45 minutes on a great day, to over 3 hours in bad weather….

Only 447 more days until most of my daily commutes will be driving around my property in my golf cart!

 

[freebird5825]

Not to mention long telecons. I do NOT miss telecons one bit!

You just reminded me of a very difficult project I [-]got stuck with[/-] was assigned to be in charge of, by a not-so-benevolent supervisor. In a nutshell, there were 3 geographically separated groups who were told to "w*rk together". I was the funding decision maker as well as the Tech Manager.
At first, we got together in person, switching the meeting place between the three locations. Result? Food fights and drama.
So I switched over to telecons, using savings on travel costs as the justification. All of a sudden, the two groups who wanted to accomplish something were able to keep the "food fighter" group from monopolizing the group meetings in person. Oddly enough, technology solved the adverse human interaction problem.

 

[Purron]

There was the boss who told me to attend a meeting out of town on short notice to replace someone who [-]couldn't go[/-] weaseled out of it. When I said I'd have to check my calendar because I was pretty sure I had a commitment, she said "We own you. You're going."

 

[East Texas]

Not to mention long telecons. I do NOT miss telecons one bit!

Ah, the meetings where five minutes of information is spread out over 60 minutes.

 

[W2R]

Ah, the meetings where five minutes of information is spread out over 60 minutes.

Yes, although I must admit that where I worked, a 60 minute telecon was relatively short! Occasionally I had to participate in 2-3 hour telecons during which the opportunity for a quick "nature break" was tough to find.

 

[scrabbler1]

Ack! I hated meetings, too. Even while working part-time for 7 years I still had to attend many of them. I had a boring biweekly management one which, even with an occasional free donut, I did not like. It began as soon as I arrived at 10 AM so I was usually in a grumpy mood for the rest of the morning.

Then with the long project I worked on in the last 17 months or so, I had a weekly status meeting on Thursday or Friday afternoon. That one was at least productive but it melted my mind often. A meeting like that at 2-3 in the afternoon was more than my mind could handle late in the day.

 

[bbbamI]

So you were denied bathroom privileges in your working days? Well there's a new one

Nah...I wasn't denied. It just depended on whether or not I had a customer, my boss wasn't squawking, the phone wasn't ringing, I was not in a meeting, I was not in a car, train or airplane. As long as the bathroom was not marked 'out of order' or the stalls were not filled.

Otherwise...I was good to go!

 

[GregLee]

My Billbergia Hallelujah bloomed:

 

[obgyn65]

My thoughts exactly...

Above all, the freedom from @ssholes.

 

[Rustic23]

Truth, after 5 years, I am still looking for something I don't like, however, I don't look very hard!