And Life Goes On

It has been almost two months that I have been retired. Although I quit without official notice, I have been telling people for the last couple of years that when the time came, I would toss my keys on someone's desk and be done. That is exactly what I did! There is a real sense of sadness when it comes to my former place of employment. For the most part, I loved my job, but the "social worker" part of me had difficulty finding a balance with the "business" part of me. It was always difficult to hear public perception of my place of employment and not being able to defend it with reality. Truth often has nothing to do with reality as people on the outside see it! Some of the publicity since my retirement has been true, some has been half-truth, some has been conjecture and some has been downright false. But, that's the way it is. I can't change it. All I can say is that I have no regrets in retiring. I spent over nineteen years in their employ and I decided to leave "my way". I am not good at good-bye scenes.

Before I decided to leave, I had frequent thoughts of a woman I used to work with. She retired and came back to work, retired again. Shortly after that, she became very ill and passed away. I did not want to follow those footsteps!

I will be sixty-seven in a couple of months. I am healthy and have things I want to do, places I want to go and people I want to see. This was truly brought home this weekend when I attended a family reunion. This was the first one in probably 25 years. Attendance was small, but that didn't matter. Family was together! Maybe there will be more that will be able to come next year. We looked at family history and old photographs. We talked old times and future time. We laughed! We loved!

My son, my daughter, their spouses and their kids - does life get any better. It very well may, but for now, I am content. No regrets and the future looks bright. I am one happy Grandma!