Well after a lifetime of being only a faint dream, the dream has become a reality. As of December 18, 2014 I am no longer an employee of my beloved crown corporation of Manitoba Hydro (MH), but a retired employee of MH. Technically I am not recieving any retirement benefits as I am still on the payroll for awhile using up vacation days, so-called pre-retirement. So far "fixed income" jokes are not applicable. There will be plenty of time for those in due course once I am recieving retirement money vs. regular salary. As an aside I have never really understood the concept of "on a fixed income" specifically for retireree's as most working people on a salary are also on a fixed income as well. While you may recieve periodic pay increases over your career to deal with inflation, bonuses, and skill sets, some are lucky enough to recieve the same with retirement if your lucky enough to have an indexed pension plan.
So this is my new life. One that will undoubtedly take some getting used to. Even though it is a good lifestyle change, it is a big adjustment no matter which way you look at it. For 40+ years of my 54 years of existence on this planet I have either been told/taught by my parents or in school to save money and don't be a spendthrift. Now after a lifetime of living by these practices you are supposed to turn all that off and spend all your money? It just doesn't come that easy; for me especially as I have always been a prodigious saver and "cautious" with my money.
Notwithstanding what my life will look like in a year from now (I have no clue), I enjoyed the kickoff to my non-working career. My last day at work was busy visiting with the constant stream of people who came by to wish me farewell and good luck on my new lifestyle change. My division had graciously got everyone together to send me off in style, complete with cake and a gift certificate in which to indulge myself with. I followed that with a small (7 colleagues and the love of my life) dinner with the people in my division I was closest too at Moxie's next door at the MTS center. I decided against a formal function for a variety of reasons, and kept my departure quiet and unassuming, preferring not to have all this attention focused on me. The private dinner was deliberately focused only on those in my division to limit the numbers invited, as I have been lucky enough to have made many friends over the course of my career. Deciding who is to be invited is a difficult task that reminded me how difficult invitations can be (I think back to my wedding list in 1985 where you must consider that if you include Bob, then you have to invite uncle Joe as well) and before long your 100 person guest list balloons to twice that size.
My first official day off started off with a good snooze and a lunch invite with a friend (and fellow retiree) to kick off my retirement in style. My friend Jim need only make a gesture to me to indicate his thoughts on retirement: both arms up to the side with a questioning look and smile and the word "hey"?
Two things became immediately clear to me about not having the burden of work as part of your life any longer: one, you don't realize the constant insidious thoughts of work that weighs on your mind. Be it the thoughts of meetings, work sitting on your desk, to the reminders that go off in your head to start your evening routine in getting ready for work, be it making your lunch, putting clothes out, etc. The second, more delicious realization is like the euphoria of leaving the office on Friday afternoon knowing your have vacation time ahead of you. The difference with retirement is that there is no end date when you have to return to work.
Either way it is an emotional ride those last few days of work. The range of emotions I went through were numerous. Suddenly as we are apt to do, I focused on the good things about work, versus all the bad. I thought of some of the routine I will miss, the building itself, the walk to the bus stop in the morning, walks with mates at lunch, and conversations with co-workers that you have got to know well over years of working with each other.
That's the other strange thing about leaving work, the loss of the many aquaintences you make over time but realize you will probably never see again. The work place is a place where you interact with many people, whom you spend more time with than your immediate family (excluding sleep time). However the fact is I made many friends over my career, some of which I will undoubtedly keep in touch with, however the vast majority of these people I will no longer keep in touch with. Its just reality, yet a strange feeling nonetheless.
As my retirement coincided with the Christmas season I have yet to feel "retired" yet as many people take time off over Christmas, returning to work on Monday, Jan. 5 of the new 2015 year. That said like anyone on vacation or not, is there anything more enjoyable than going to bed knowing there is to be no alarm to wake you up in the morning. Ironically though after 30 odd years working sleeping in is not something I am able to do. However given that it is winter I will sleep until first light around 8am.
My vacation continues starting Jan 15 when I drive to Clearwater, Florida where I have rented a condo from a workmate of mine for a month and a half to the end of February. I'm looking forward to this journey for a number of reasons. One, after missing a large part of the winter last year when I was in Saudi Arabia, I don't relish the thought of a complete winter without some escape from the cold. Second, I have decided to drive down to Florida, all 3,300 kms of it. Since I was younger I have thought of doing a long road trip with limited constraints on your time. Unlike summer holidays and the like, when a road trip is involved people tend to drive long days so as to make more time on your holiday and not getting there. So I look forward to driving until I don't want to any longer and stop for the night. As a rough guide if I give myself 5 days, I have to travel just under 700 kms/day to complete my journey. The journey as outlined by Google Maps - will take me south through Fargo, Souix Falls, Kansas City, St. Louis, Nashville, Atlanta and into Florida. This road trip will also provide good experiences on which to base the next installment of this new blog of mine.
I'm hoping that in the future with this blog that I can provide some insights, thoughts, and observations about my life as I start a new chapter of this existence of mine. I hope you find some interest in it as well. Though the thought of a retirement blog sounds quite boring - I will do my best to avoid that!
Tomorrow is the start of a completely new day
One of which I have no experience and have little to say
