It’s Official

Well, I sealed the deal on my retirement yesterday. My last day of work will be March 31, 2010. Beginning next week, I will work only three days a week until I pack my boxes in 3 ½ months. And here’s the best part: I work three-day weeks and get paid for five. Is that cool or what? Of course, I’m retiring from the corporate grind but not from my writing. I have much to do, including fulfilling my commitment to write a sequel. I’m anxious to begin, but not without an ever-so-slight pang of fear. 

I can’t quite grasp that after over four decades of working in every field from construction to sales & marketing to the utility industry, I’m actually pulling the plug on a traditional career. It’s surreal to say the least. 

Walking away from the job is easy; leaving the people on the other hand is going to be tough. Many of the folks I work with are not only colleagues, they’re friends; dear friends. It’s not that we can’t keep in touch and meet for coffee or lunch once in a while. It’s just that once retired I will likely fade to a distant memory. We get so caught up with the busyness of living our lives that we tend to forget about family, friends and the human factor. 

I guess it’s up to each of us, no? We can choose to let our relationships fade to oblivion, or we can make an earnest effort to nurture and cultivate them.