Retirement - A New Chapter

Wow, what a week I have had!  This retirement stuff is where it's at :)

My first day off work, Thursday, November 1st was hard on me.  It caught me off guard because I figured it would feel just like a vacation day from work.  It didn't . . . I felt sad, I felt alone and left out.  I'm not a pitty party person, but I felt like I could have easily gone down that path.  Thankfully, those sad feelings were very short lived and by Friday I was feeling excited because my party was that evening.

Let's just call Friday "magical"!!!  We had a leisurely morning (Bret and I) and then Kel came over so we could all go to Casey's to spend time with her and Whit before my party.  Would you believe that Caleb and Megan were hiding downstairs at Casey's to surprise me???  They flew in from Colorado for my party.  I was shocked and touched and so very happy!!  I was showered with gifts throughout the day/evening which again I was surprised about.  I had no expectations of the day except a huge celebration.  And celebrate is what we did.  My party was so much fun - it was everything I had hoped for.  My friends and family were so generous!  This gift (below) was from my family and painted by a close family friend.  They picked out meaningful book titles to describe me and Jenny painted this beautiful picture!  Love it!!!  This is just one of many wonderful gifts I received.



The past few days have been wonderful as well!  I have never had time to just "run errands" on my time.  It is so freeing to be able to do what you want, when you want.  I definitely can do this retirement thing!!  I'm feeling mighty blessed to be where I am right now!!

Am I really retired?

I had several friends ask me to blog about my retirement as a way to keep in touch and probably so they could have a glimpse at what it is like :)

Yesterday was a magical day.  I anticipated it to be a crazy busy day, working with my replacement to get the last several hours of training in, so she felt comfortable moving forward.  Little did I know, my friends had planned a surprise "open house" for me at work and from 11:00 - 3:00 people stopped by to say good bye, to wish me well and to thank me for all my hard work.  I was very touched by all the people who took time out of their busy day to honor me.

Bret, Casey, Whitney and Kelley were all there for the open house as well.  I felt so special and so loved.  There are few pictures floating around on cameras at work, but this one Casey sent immediately!



Day 1 of Retirement
Well Day One doesn't feel much different than a vacation day.  I didn't sleep in, which is not a surprise to me, but that was the #1 question I was asked yesterday.   Are you going to sleep in tomorrow?  I woke up at 5:30 just like normal. The difference was, I headed to the gym at 7:30 a.m. instead of 6:00 a.m. which was great!!!

I do feel a little out of sorts today because I'm so used to a crazy, fast-paced day and now my time is my own.  It is hard to put into words the emotions I've experienced over the past couple of days.  They were intense . . . happy, sad, excited, overwhelmed, disbelief.  I have been working at P&G since I was a kid (17 years old).  That is all I know . . . a full time worker bee.

Perfect Timing
As many of you know, I am a huge supporter of Weight Watchers and I used to work there part time.  I love to help people with their weight loss journey.  Last night at 5:00, the Weight Watcher regional manager called me to set up an interview to come back to work for them part-time.  I'm excited about the opportunity to help people again.  This is not a job, this is not work . . . this is something that I really enjoy!