215 To Go...

06/29/2011

I am not a worrier and I do not allow myself to be stressed (for long).  The “215” referred to in the title of this post is the number of days I have left to my official retirement date. While 2-1-2012 is approaching at the speed of light, I am concerned more about being prepared for retirement than retirement itself.  Quite frankly, I am not prepared for this event, neither financially or mentally.

A little while ago I found myself sitting in my favorite chair in the family room just staring out the window, half in a daze, my mind a blank slate.  Is this a feature of retirement?  If so, I ain’t going like it too much.  I have to keep moving, it’s a rule. 

Friends that have retired tell me how little they miss working, just the people they worked with, and then make it a point to let me know how utterly busy they are.  I have to wonder if this is a BS justification of their decision to cut the employment umbilical cord.  Are they like married guys telling the unmarried how wonderful marriage is – kind of a “misery loves company” thing?

Don’t get me wrong, I know with a house as big as this one, a vegetable garden that measures 16’ by 48’, and the seven or eight acres of grass I mow, there will always be plenty to do in the spring and summer months, but that still leaves another six to fill with some kind of activity.  Know that I am just not into puzzles of any kind, and I can only read so long before I lapsed into a vegetative state, a deep sleep.

Yes, I could work part time, but then why retire?  My boss and wife think I work part time as it is, and I have to agree, somewhat.  Many, many times when asked what I will do when I retire, my answer was to be a “geriatric porn star,” but, alas, that even in jest won’t eventuate as aging has had a deleterious affect on the equipment essential to stardom.  What to do, what to do?  Hmmm!

While finances are a consideration, my company will provide me with a pension and that with Social Security and The Nancy working two jobs should be just enough to keep a roof over my head and an adequate supply of brewed beverages in my beer fridge.

Maybe this won’t be so bad, after all?

And that is all I have to say about that…