Retirement, Take Six

A friend of mine who had been reassuring me for years that I would love retirement said to me over lunch a couple weeks ago, "You really have become the poster child for retirement," and I was surprised at how pleased I was at that characterization. Setting aside the fact that those of us who have retired are in many ways invisible to the rest of the culture for a minute, I can say that retirement thus far has been one of the happiest surprises of my life. (I write that sentence with some trepidation since I know that my luck can change at any moment; we are all one slip in the shower away from that big retirement home in the sky. Fate, I do not mean to tempt you.) I think I am healthier now than I have been in decades. I suspect I look better. I was even thinking that, if I had any background in counseling, I could be a retirement coach, helping other people make the transition, helping them figure out what they are doing as they move forward inductively, making-it-up-as-you-go-along as I have been doing. Although nothing will come of this idea, I can say that even coming up with that idea  out of nowhere--that leisurely thinking--is a luxury I did not feel I had when I was working full-time.

And I suspect that I look happier, so much so that a long-time colleague said to me by way of greeting last week, "Stop looking so smug!" She was only partly joking, I think. I took it as a compliment.

All things considered, I think I have a right to be smug. I mean, thus far I seem to be doing this retirement thing pretty well, much better than I thought I would. Better than I see some other people doing it, to be honest. But okay, okay. I will see what I can do to ratchet it (my smile? my exuberance? my happiness?) down. A bit. Well, sometimes.

And then, as they are wont to do, the gods helped me to remember that I am an expert only on my own retirement, and, after all, I have not made any dramatic moves. I have mostly been improvising from the comfort of my small living room. My plans were to sort of go in a direction and see what that direction yielded--and what it had to offer me. To me. (Not to be solipsistic, but...)

I was not the only one who retired when I did from the place I worked. Most of those colleagues I have already pretty much lost track of. But I did hear about the former Facilities guy John (for years knew him only by his first name and only to say hello to) who since retirement packed up and moved to Kansas, got married in December, and seems to have a very clear sense of what it is he is meant to do. I will let the article from the January 1, 2016 Kansas City Star tell his story: www.kansascity.com>article52618785  . Check it out. (If you can find a version with photos, so much the better.)

At the least, I am reminded that there are many ways to do anything, including this gig called retirement.


(And the photo at the top is of a doll a colleague and friend made for me years ago. The doll is me dressed for work--red shoes and all--and at the time of the photo, she was standing in the driver's seat of my car. )

Copyright Sandra A. Engel