Update on "retirement"

One of my grad school friends scoffed "quaint notion" when I told him I was retired. It turns out he was right. These days retirement really means tapering off. If you have had a decent career you will still be in demand when you are done with it. Less than 3 months after retiring I was asked to join a project involving my former company. This brings in decent income, but is still part-time. That, in turn, allows me to have MUCH more freedom to travel and involve myself in more enjoyable things. I get to take vacations, write, do photography, and get involved with my kids' lives a bit more than before. Those things are of much more value to me than work these days. ;-)

The funny side of all this is that I made fun of my wife as she was agonizing over taking a package and quitting work. It turns out that she was employed part-time for 3 years after that with the same company, tapering off. That left her fulfilled in a "bringing in the money" sense, yet left her a lot of time to coach her daughters as they got started with their careers.

When it came time for me to retire, I also agonized over it. It took me quite a while to get to the point where I was comfortable with the idea, despite it having been quite some time since I really enjoyed work. So there I was, in exactly the same state that I teased my wife about! So, here we are, both able to enjoy life a lot more (together) than during the "nose to the grindstone" years. Yay! For me, it's a bit like the time before we had children, and then got involved in their lives. That, also, is a very good thing.