Retirement Thoughts

The other day, I was congratulating a co worker for her promotion, and she asked me, "When are you going to retire?"

I'm technically retired, but started working part time, literally, two days after I retired.  Same employer.  Same job.  And I'm still at it.  Part of the reason was my timing (not the best; I retired in April of 2020) and part of it was, I still liked my job.  I just couldn't do it full time anymore.

I had plans.  Didn't we all?  And then the pandemic came along and upended everything. 

First daylily of 2022 - June 4

I'm fortunate - I'm not outgoing, and my flowers were unaffected by COVID.

I've been fortunate enough to be able to work from home ever since (I was sent home March 19, 2020) and my employer has recently allowed most of its employees (some jobs just require a physical presence, but many don't) to choose full time in office, hybrid, or fully remote.

At this point, for my department, only one of us is in the office, and she sometimes works once a week from home.  The rest of us are fully remote, although a couple of us may be returning on a hybrid basis.  No one has chosen to be in the office 100% of that time.

I should also mention that I'm the only part timer.

Our manager's manager, several months ago, decided to schedule a half hour meeting once a week (on one of the days I work) for the two departments she manages, where we do not talk about work, but rather about ourselves and our lives.

We've been introduced to co-worker dogs,cats, grandchildren, nieces, and even (once) a son in law.

This week, the manager's manager was out, and we got to talk about our working from home.

One person, who is quite outgoing, started out hating it, but she's changed her mind.  Others have loved it from the start.  It's given us flexibility.  One person's two daughters have both had their first babies during the pandemic, and she was able to spend time helping her daughters out, and bonding with the grandbabies.

Another co worker, who lives alone (not counting her pets), talked about how less stressful her life has become.

As for me...no grandbabies.  No cats.  No dogs.  But I can spend my lunch times with my spouse (who retired before I did.)  My commute, once 20-30 minutes each way, is now 30 seconds.

Instead of walking in downtown Binghamton, New York, where I used to walk, I walk in a local park, along a river, and listen to birds.  (OK, I also have to dodge goose droppings, but the streets of Binghamton have their own perils.  Like the remains of the prey of peregrine falcons, which live on top of one of the taller buildings.)

So, back to retirement.  How should I answer that co-worker?

In 2014, I blogged the following:

"Years ago, I used to play The Game of Life with my young son.  This board game has a fascinating history - it was created by Milton Bradley (yes, there was a real Milton Bradley) in 1860.

 In the Game of Life version we played, after high school, you could choose either to go to college or start work immediately.  You chose a profession, got married, had children, did various things, and ended up in one of two retirement villages, depending on how much money you had.

And then, I suppose, you drove into the sunset.  As I recall, that's where the game ended.  You added up your money and other assets and the player who had the most won.

Won.  As if life was a competition.  For some people, of course, it is.  I'm not one of them.

I wonder about retirement, because I know several people around my age, and even younger, who are retired.  Some retired voluntarily.  At least three of them retired to take care of elderly parents and stayed retired when the parents left the planet.  Several retired when their employers, long time employers decided they were not needed anymore...

 I also know several people who retired, with high expectations, and found themselves working again (generally not for the same employers they retired from) within a matter of months.

Guess that sunset wasn't too attractive.  One man was plain bored.  Several discovered they missed income coming in."

In that blog post, I hoped we could do things we loved.

So, retire for good?  Not quite yet.  But I'm thinking.  I'm going to be 70 later this year.  I have cousins older than me that are still working (part time).  But others have taken the plunge.  And there's the issue of inflation.

I'm thinking....