I'm not going to get too detailed here, but have been giving some thought about "how it's been".
I was laid off 22 days before my 55th birthday, 1 month before I was going to retire anyway, and given a pretty sweet severance bonus package after 30.5yrs in 3 megacorps. That was Jan 4th 2017.
With some real nice $$ padding, I went nuts traveling in 2017. 11 trips, 7 with our RV trailer (one 20 days long) others by plane including each almost 2 weeks in Europe and the Caribbean. Saw the total solar eclipse on a beach in SC. Although DW was with me exactly half of those nights away, it was made clear to me that was a "one-off" year and next year would be more tame.
Otherwise, as I expected, I had ZERO regrets and was not bored in the least at any time. Only downside is that I have some had health issues over the last nearly 2 years that are sapping energy from me and limiting how much I can do. The good news is that my oncologist has cleared me, I have recently, I have been a cancer survivor for 9 years. Not miserable, but very puzzling and frustrating.
So just moments ago, I created a new tab on the cash retirement pile spreadsheet called "Travel 2018" and did a "soft move" of the funds DW and I agreed upon would be allotted for travel.... minutes after texting a travel agent/family member my Amex # to book a Caribbean cruise for March. This 2018 travel budget is about 1/3 of last years and knowing us, and the couple we are traveling with in March, we will destroy the entire budget before we get home from the cruise. Point is, we love to travel, but only now will I have to meter out some $$ every year and figure out how best to spend it. We love the big vacation$, but also really enjoy "camping" with the RV in New England and that can be done very inexpensively. DW will work for another 3-4 years as planned, so her vacation time is not unlimited as is mine.
Otherwise, I had tried to hold to a routine, during the week anyway. Set my alarm every morning M-F for 9:00 an almost always got up then (never been a morning person). Weekends I would just leave open and usually DW and I would do social things, or go out to eat. Until we got this last 14" snowfall, I had been walking 2-3 miles on wooded trails 5-6 days a week with our two dogs, and lost 15 lbs. Cold and ice don't bother me (spiked boots) but I am not a snow shoer or X-coutry skier do deep snow and walking is over. Just hoping that we get some melt and the snow mobilers pack down at least a few of our favorite trails so we can walk again.
I have found that even the stuff I most like to do, I still don't want to do any one thing more than a few hours a day, but luckily the "list" of stuff to do is long. All of those things that when I was w*rking thought "yeah, right, when am I going to have time to do that?" are now perfect distractions and shift in focus... and I don't HAVE to do any of them. Huge pleasure can be found just cleaning up and organizing a cabinet or two... and getting rid of stuff.
Surely don't miss w*rk, but have to make an honest effort to stay in touch and do things with former co-workers, some of whom are really good friends. Luckily they all still like to do stuff out of work and have put up with me covering my ears when they start talking about w*rk stuff.
Best wishes to all for a great 2018, hope you can live the life you imagined as well...
I was laid off 22 days before my 55th birthday, 1 month before I was going to retire anyway, and given a pretty sweet severance bonus package after 30.5yrs in 3 megacorps. That was Jan 4th 2017.
With some real nice $$ padding, I went nuts traveling in 2017. 11 trips, 7 with our RV trailer (one 20 days long) others by plane including each almost 2 weeks in Europe and the Caribbean. Saw the total solar eclipse on a beach in SC. Although DW was with me exactly half of those nights away, it was made clear to me that was a "one-off" year and next year would be more tame.
Otherwise, as I expected, I had ZERO regrets and was not bored in the least at any time. Only downside is that I have some had health issues over the last nearly 2 years that are sapping energy from me and limiting how much I can do. The good news is that my oncologist has cleared me, I have recently, I have been a cancer survivor for 9 years. Not miserable, but very puzzling and frustrating.
So just moments ago, I created a new tab on the cash retirement pile spreadsheet called "Travel 2018" and did a "soft move" of the funds DW and I agreed upon would be allotted for travel.... minutes after texting a travel agent/family member my Amex # to book a Caribbean cruise for March. This 2018 travel budget is about 1/3 of last years and knowing us, and the couple we are traveling with in March, we will destroy the entire budget before we get home from the cruise. Point is, we love to travel, but only now will I have to meter out some $$ every year and figure out how best to spend it. We love the big vacation$, but also really enjoy "camping" with the RV in New England and that can be done very inexpensively. DW will work for another 3-4 years as planned, so her vacation time is not unlimited as is mine.
Otherwise, I had tried to hold to a routine, during the week anyway. Set my alarm every morning M-F for 9:00 an almost always got up then (never been a morning person). Weekends I would just leave open and usually DW and I would do social things, or go out to eat. Until we got this last 14" snowfall, I had been walking 2-3 miles on wooded trails 5-6 days a week with our two dogs, and lost 15 lbs. Cold and ice don't bother me (spiked boots) but I am not a snow shoer or X-coutry skier do deep snow and walking is over. Just hoping that we get some melt and the snow mobilers pack down at least a few of our favorite trails so we can walk again.
I have found that even the stuff I most like to do, I still don't want to do any one thing more than a few hours a day, but luckily the "list" of stuff to do is long. All of those things that when I was w*rking thought "yeah, right, when am I going to have time to do that?" are now perfect distractions and shift in focus... and I don't HAVE to do any of them. Huge pleasure can be found just cleaning up and organizing a cabinet or two... and getting rid of stuff.
Surely don't miss w*rk, but have to make an honest effort to stay in touch and do things with former co-workers, some of whom are really good friends. Luckily they all still like to do stuff out of work and have put up with me covering my ears when they start talking about w*rk stuff.
Best wishes to all for a great 2018, hope you can live the life you imagined as well...
Last edited:
?? <I'll edit...>
Nope, having too much fun. 
