Greetings to all of my fellow ERs! I have been away from the group for quite some time. I received an email from Cut-Throat, and he tells me that some have been wondering where I was, so I thought I'd post an update.
I've been away from the group since we started a major overhaul on our house. We hired a contractor who is very tough to get. He just called out of the blue one day to say he could start the next morning. So... we disconnected from the internet and basically lived in squalor for several months - we pretty much lived in one room for a part of it. Workmen were all over the place. We also did a great deal of the work. It was absolute chaos - much more involved than we imagined. I'll never do it again.
We also decided to pretty much toss many of our personal possessions and replace them with new. We had relied largely upon frugality to get where we are financially, and part of the plan was to replace almost everything when we retired. So we have been spending like drunken sailors. We still aren't done, but we're winding down.
In the meantime, one daughter has been in college several hours away, and we have enjoyed going out to see her, and we almost lost our other daughter due to complications of pregnancy - so we helped to nurse her back to health while helping with our two grandkids. Our daughter is fine now, and our new grandchild is struggling to catch up, but we expect/hope he'll be OK. My wife and I have spent much time together working on the house and relaxing. We have reconnected with nature and spend lots of time outdoors.
So... I have spent very little time online other than shopping and email, so I thought I'd drop by and let you know what I've been up to. I almost didn't see Cut-Throat's email. It was sent to a junk email address - one I use primarily to sign up for online stuff, so I don't check it often, and when I do, it's mostly a matter of deleting spam. Cut-Throat's email was buried among a long list of spam, and I just happened to notice the words "Are you OK? - The ER forum wants to know".
I am doing very well. Every day I find myself thinking that I am incredibly grateful to be retired. It has been 2 1/2 years since I left my job, and my life has improved in just about every way. I don't miss working in the least. I find that I usually don't get enough sleep... I have no problem sleeping, I simply don't want to sleep because there is so much I want to do. My health has improved. My mood has improved. I'm learning many new things in previously unexplored areas. I spend almost zero time thinking about investments. For some reason, I just don't worry about the future anymore and my investments are pretty much on auto-pilot. When I had a steady income I worried about financial security. Now I never worry about it. In short - retirement is producing some fundamental changes in me that I did not anticipate. And so far it has all been for the better. The past 2 1/2 years have been the best of my life.
Wow! This is a different place with lots of names I don't recognize, and some I expected to see that don't seem to be here anymore. I'm going to spend some time checking out the changes here. It's good to be back. Cut-Throat, I'm sorry for the delay. I was visiting my parents in northwest Iowa but I just replied to your email.
I've been away from the group since we started a major overhaul on our house. We hired a contractor who is very tough to get. He just called out of the blue one day to say he could start the next morning. So... we disconnected from the internet and basically lived in squalor for several months - we pretty much lived in one room for a part of it. Workmen were all over the place. We also did a great deal of the work. It was absolute chaos - much more involved than we imagined. I'll never do it again.
We also decided to pretty much toss many of our personal possessions and replace them with new. We had relied largely upon frugality to get where we are financially, and part of the plan was to replace almost everything when we retired. So we have been spending like drunken sailors. We still aren't done, but we're winding down.
In the meantime, one daughter has been in college several hours away, and we have enjoyed going out to see her, and we almost lost our other daughter due to complications of pregnancy - so we helped to nurse her back to health while helping with our two grandkids. Our daughter is fine now, and our new grandchild is struggling to catch up, but we expect/hope he'll be OK. My wife and I have spent much time together working on the house and relaxing. We have reconnected with nature and spend lots of time outdoors.
So... I have spent very little time online other than shopping and email, so I thought I'd drop by and let you know what I've been up to. I almost didn't see Cut-Throat's email. It was sent to a junk email address - one I use primarily to sign up for online stuff, so I don't check it often, and when I do, it's mostly a matter of deleting spam. Cut-Throat's email was buried among a long list of spam, and I just happened to notice the words "Are you OK? - The ER forum wants to know".
I am doing very well. Every day I find myself thinking that I am incredibly grateful to be retired. It has been 2 1/2 years since I left my job, and my life has improved in just about every way. I don't miss working in the least. I find that I usually don't get enough sleep... I have no problem sleeping, I simply don't want to sleep because there is so much I want to do. My health has improved. My mood has improved. I'm learning many new things in previously unexplored areas. I spend almost zero time thinking about investments. For some reason, I just don't worry about the future anymore and my investments are pretty much on auto-pilot. When I had a steady income I worried about financial security. Now I never worry about it. In short - retirement is producing some fundamental changes in me that I did not anticipate. And so far it has all been for the better. The past 2 1/2 years have been the best of my life.
Wow! This is a different place with lots of names I don't recognize, and some I expected to see that don't seem to be here anymore. I'm going to spend some time checking out the changes here. It's good to be back. Cut-Throat, I'm sorry for the delay. I was visiting my parents in northwest Iowa but I just replied to your email.
