Charlie chilling on my chair. All of the furniture in our house is covered with dog blankets because I like to keep it classy.
I'm retired now. I worked for AHS for thirty-eight years, pretty much my whole life and nothing really. My manager asked me yesterday for a photo of me because the nurse educator wants to post something in our online magazine, which surprised me. I'm not sending them a photo of me now, tired after thrity-either years. It was either this photo or one with a snapchat filter and no wrinkles, cause I'm still vain. I sent her the grad photo.
I worked yesterday and realized that retirement is kind of like a death. You're gone, life moves on. People say they miss you but you know from years of working that a retirement, or a death, is like a ripple in a pond. The surface is disturbed briefly and then returns to its former state. I'm not needed by my patients, there are lots of good nurses there. I wonder how long it will take me to let go and move on.
I also realized that your job doesn't really care about you. Your coworkers care about you but not your job. I know everyone says this but understanding is different than knowing. "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard.
Life goals:)
I love that kid!!! No, your job doesn't care about you. I also found in the beginning years of FaceBook that many people I thought were my RL friends were not so much. They cared more about the number of 'friends' and likes they gathered. It was an awakening. You will let go, it's a process. I would have sent both photos, I think! I keep my place classy with multiple slipcovers and throws on the furniture. It's gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteI'm all about dog glitter, and cat glitter. It's everywhere.
DeleteI love both your photos and yes, that Emma kid has it right!
ReplyDeleteEmma is right but I might just push that number back a bit to maybe seventy.
DeleteI don't have any pets but I keep my recliner and the couch covered because I live here!
ReplyDeleteBoth pictures show how really cute you are! Any lines you have, you have earned due to life! ❤️
It's weird looking in the mirror and seeing your mum, said every woman who has ever lived.
DeleteIt was years (!) after the last hairy pet died that I still found hairs here and there and we do have a powerful cleaning routine.
ReplyDeleteNow after barely six months of retirement, I have just two regular contact persons left from my job of 24 years. I found out by accident that I had been removed from the work whatsapp group. But you know what? It's a great feeling. So, look forward, enjoy!
I'm finding it much easier to let go than I thought it would be. And I love have time.
DeleteI felt the same way when I retired, 10 years ago. After so many years of giving my all, my best, I was quickly replaced and forgotten. You will get used to it. Retirement is a huge change in so many ways, physically, mentally, and financially. It takes time to adjust to the post retirement life. Give yourself at least a year to slowly transform in to your new self. Now when I dream about work, it always feels like a nightmare, ha.
ReplyDeleteI keep telling myself, it's only been two weeks. Talk to me in January when it's been -35C for two weeks. Then I'll be desperate to talk to patients again:)
DeleteBeautiful woman!
ReplyDeleteAnd Emma has it all figured out. Tiny hut, tiny dog, fish tacos, no crap. What could be better?
It reminded me of you actually.
DeleteWhat great photos! And I think dog blankets are perfect. We have a bunch here for Izzy, the dachshund. She only likes sitting on furniture, not the floor. Shirley is happy anywhere! Retirement takes time to get used to, but once you do, it is great. For me, my favorite time is Sunday night as I don't have to get up on Monday morning, even though I rarely sleep past six. But I don't HAVE to get up!
ReplyDeleteIt's nice not to have to do anything, to take a breath.
DeleteSome people can be missed more than others by their 'job' but not for long. My workplace did not collapse when I left.
ReplyDeleteMany things will divert Emma as time marches on but maybe she will fulfil her dream, although I think I would set the date earlier.
I would set the date earlier too, about seventy.
DeleteRetirement was weird, it was as if both of us had fallen off the edge of the planet. One day we were there, and then we weren't. So, we retired, moved to the other coast, hated living there, bought an RV and traveled for 11 years. It was fun, until it wasn't. I hope you like it and find something to do with your newly available time.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't mind travelling around the country for awhile, I think I would miss home pretty quickly though.
DeleteGotta love that kid! I worked in HR for 20 years and when someone retired I used to break down their four official files to just a slim file which would fit in our archives. When they died I would break THAT file down to maybe two pieces of paper! You're right, life does move on and you are mainly forgotten, but I don't care because the life I have now is so much better than the life I had then!
ReplyDeleteI'm enjoying my life right now and I'm thankful for the time to just walk the dogs and putter in the garden.
DeleteHa! I love Emma's note! I find it kind of comforting that none of us are so individually powerful that an organization (or the world, for that matter) can't get along without us. That's what makes for stability, and it takes the pressure off all of us individuals!
ReplyDeleteYou are right about work. We are just pegs in holes and when we are gone the holes are filled by others. Things move on.
ReplyDeleteThings always move on, don't they?
DeleteThat is absolutely true. Retiring is like disappearing; you've made a difference to so many and can focus on that, as I have. It feels weird that it's all in the past now. You will always be a nurse just like I'm a teacher forever. There are ways to teach and nurse outside of our jobs, mostly by nurturing and educating others AND ourselves.
ReplyDeleteJack asked me one day why I helped someone, out in the community, I told him, I guess because I'm a nurse. I don't even really think about it, I just step in. I recently added a Narcan kit to Katie's backpack because the mall we go to has a lot of homeless people and drug addicts.
DeleteThat 8 Year Old Emma has figured it out already had me ROTFLMAO, what a Wise Child! I LOVE your current Photo as much as the Young You one, the filters are great and you look stunning... the Young folks use them all the time and nobody will really know what they ever really looked like... which ain't such a bad thing when you can look fabulous instead.
ReplyDelete