Retired!

Whew, I made it! Unemployed for the first time in 28 years! It's a really weird feeling. No reports to run, no spreadsheets to format, no phones to answer, no decisions to make. No offense intended to my department, but it became increasingly more difficult to do a good job as the years went on. It was almost a constant battle to do the job the way I thought was "right" while running interference with some who wanted me to conform to arbitrary standards. When that happens, it's time to leave.

And leave I did! With enough life left in these old bones to do something different with the second half of my earthly pilgrimage. Maybe not so different, because I'll still carry the same skills and love of details with me. Just a change in focus, at least for now, with four years of college looming on the horizon. Now I'll have time to concentrate and give it my best effort.

And there are things I'm looking forward to putting in the column headed "Mundane" such as: a relatively clean house (for once!), grocery shopping at a time when I'm not tripping over fellow 9-5 housewives, stocking a pantry and freezer with good home cooking, putting in a small garden, actually keeping up with the paperwork associated with life in the 21st century, rearranging a guest bedroom and a closet or two and, of course, hitting the library whenever I need to rather than trying to fit it in between working hours and errands.

Routines with a twist... TIME! Yippee!