In January I decided to set my date to retire from the State of Idaho, Department of Health and Welfare, June 30, 2009 after 34 years.  My last day at work is May 29 and I'll use up comp time and vacation time during the month of June.  I have five weeks left and would like it to be tomorrow. 

For those of you who have retired, share with me those first few weeks and how it was to adjust to not going to work every day.  My wife and I are having a bit of a hard time wrapping our heads around the difference between a vacation and retirement.

Thanks.

Pharis

Pharis,

I retired a few years ago and here is a little story for you.  When I had been home a couple of weeks after my retirement my wife asked one day "Are you going to be home  every day?"  When I explained that retirement ment I didn't go to work any more she thought about it for a while.  A while later she came to me and said she had always wanted to be a Flight Attendant.  I traveled a lot during my career and she felt she wanted to do some herself.  If I was going to be home she wanted to travel.  Now I am retired and stay home and my wife is a Flight attendant.  Nice thing about it is that she we get to travel.  She doesn't make a lot of money but the benifits are great.  Good luck on your retirement.  Now start writing and spoil the grand kids so you can get even with your kids.

Bruce

Pharis it will feel like you are on vacation for awhile.  It's best to keep busy!  Then pretty soon you will wonder how you ever had time to work.  We here that a lot from our friends that have retired recently. It's so nice to have a life that doesn't just mean weekends.  Enjoy!  Let us know how it works for you and what fun things you are up to.

Pharis,

So by now you should be using that comp time.  Retirement has been a mix of emotions for me.  I retired three years ago after having taught for 32 years.  I had been around hundreds of people every day, for years and to be honest it took until year three to really enjoy it.  I did go back and teach 8 weeks this spring... it was a blast, but now I appreciate my free time more.  Do all those things that you didn't have time to do before... and don't feel guilty... enjoy:)  Darla

I am not retired, neither is Rex.  We have 5 more years.  You would think since I don't "work outside" my home that I would be in retirement mode but my volunteer work is HUGE and now I am the President of Utah PTA (Parent Teacher Association) for the state of Utah, with 135,000 members.  We do conventions, handbooks, trainings and meetings all over the state, book keeping, set on government agency committees, help with Literacy programs for the Governors office, work with the Legislature and try to get laws passed for families and kids, etc. etc.   so I am busier than ever....and getting older.  But it is only 24 months and I can "retire" from my volunteer work and set around and eat bon-bons.  Oh, wait, I do that part every evening already.  :)

How are you all?  Ilene

DEAR PHARIS

JUST LET IT HAPPEN.  DON'T WORRY ABOUT TRYING TO GET EVERY PROJECT YOU HAVE ON THE SHELF DONE IN THE FIRST 30 DAYS.

MY LAST DAY WAS MAY 31ST.  I LOST 14 POUNDS JUST WORKING AROUND THE HOUSE AND YARD AT WARP 9.  FINALLY REALIZED, THOSE PROJECTS WILL BE THERE TOMORROW.  SO, AFTER 35 YEARS OF GETTING UP AT 5AM, I HAVE PASSED THE STAGE WHERE I WAKE UP AND LOOK AT THE CLOCK AT 4:59AM. (THE INNER CLOCK WE ALL HAVE).  IT TOOK ABOUT A WEEK TO GET OVER THAT. 

TAKE SOME TIME OFF.  GO SOME WHERE AND DO NOTHING FOR A FEW DAYS.  DON'T PLAN ANYTHING, JUST BE GONE.  RENT A SMALL CABIN ON THE COAST OR IN THE MOUNTAINS, OR GO SOME PLACE NEW THAT YOU SAID YOU WOULD LIKE TO VISIT SOME DAY.  (I DON'T MEAN ITALY.....) 

ONCE YOU GET BACK, YOU WILL HAVE A BETTER GRASP ON REALITY.

I LIKE TO GET UP BETWEEN 8 AND 9 IN THE MORNING, GET A CUP OF COFFEE AND READ THE PAPER (PAPER IS OPTIONAL), THEN PLAN MY DAY.

DON'T WORRY, IT WON'T TAKE LONG FOR YOU TO ADAPT AND YOU WILL REALIZE YOU ARE HAVING THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE.  DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF, JUST ENJOY THE DAY.

IF YOU REALLY HAVE ISSUES, JUST CALL ME AND WE'LL TALK ABOUT IT. (OR JUST CALL ME ;o).

YOUR FRIEND,

KEN S

Wow....when can I retire?  Actually, I have nver been busier in my volunteer work.   I just finished my first big training, conducting the state board meeting with 50 people for 3 days with intense meetings.  I think retirement sounds MUCH better.  But I will earn it in a couple of years.  I will not plan to work myself to death but enjy the golden years like Kenny and Janie have started.  Good luck Pharis and all.  Kenny, your retirement sounds like a big fish story to me.  Oh, and Happy Birthday.  Are you one of the "babies" of our class?  I am on the downhill slide coming to the big 60!!  Ilene

I remember the statewide meetings with the rural areas always hammering about the "state of Ada" and fighting to prevent everything going to the urban area.  I imagine you have that a lot with Salt Lake City and County.  How did you organize it?  What are the main focus points for PTA/PTO these days?

I am still interested in stuff, but have this underlying feeling of giddyness realizing I don't have to go to work.  It's amazing.

Thanks for still using the website.

Take care.

IT'S FUNNY... SOME MORNINGS I GET UP AND JUST HAVE TO GET INTO "WORK". AND OTHER DAYS JUST GOING OUT AND LOOKING AT ALL THE FLOWERS THE GRANDKIDS AND I PLANTED IN THE YARD THIS YEAR. I HAVE LOTS OF FRIENDS THAT LOVE TO FISH WITH ME, SO, IT'S EASY TO GET ON THE PHONE AND GET AN OUTING PLANNED. WE STILL HAVE LOTS OF SUMMER LEFT AND WILL DO A LOT OF CAMPING BEFORE THE FIRST SNOW. WE ARE HEADED FOR 3 ISLAND CROSSING WITH THE YOUNGEST DAUGHER AND HER FAMILY AND FRIENDS FROM HOMEDALE HTIS WEEKEND. BEING RETIRED, WE MAY STAY UP THERE A COUPLE EXTRA DAYS BEYOND MONDAY. THAT'S THE GREAT PART ABOUT BEING "RETIRED". I HAVE, FOR YEARS, DONE MY "CIVIC DUTY", WHILE WITH THE COMPANY, FROM JC'S, CHAMBERS, PTA'S, PAINT THE TOWN, BOY SCOUTS, AND COACHING EVERY SPORT THE KIDS WANTED TO PLAY GROWING UP. SO, IT'S TIME TO RELAX AND JUST WATCH THE WORLD GO BUY. AND YES PHARIS, I KNOW THAT "GIDDY FEELING" ABOUT NOT HAVING TO GO TO WORK. IT USUALLY HAPPENS ON SUNDAY NIGHT THINKING ABOUT WHAT I WILL BE DOING MONDAY MORNING.... ;o) REALLY STARTING TO THINK ABOUT TRAVEL DOWN THE ROAD NOW. LIKE LAKE POWELL FOR A MONTH IN JANUARY, AND A TRIP TO THE EAST COAST NEXT SPRING. AND, I KNOW I HAVE THE FLEXABILITY NOW TO STAY THAT EXTA DAY, THAT I HAVE NEVER ENJOYED BEFORE (I LIKE THAT BEST). SO, JANIE AND ARE JUST TAKING IT ONE DAY AT A TIME AND ENJOYING EVERY MINUTE OF RETIREMENT SO FAR (43 DAYS AND COUNTING). EVERYONE HAS THIER OWN PLANS FOR RETIREMENT, THAT ARE A LITTLE DIFFERENT THAT THE REST. BUT IT'S STILL RETIREMENT..... YEAAAAAA.

It's been fun reading your messages.  A few days ago, my husband and I rode on his motorcycle to a friend's house.  She obviously didn't know that Val started riding motorcycles a few years ago.  So she accused him of having a midlife crisis.  We thought it was a funny reaction to seeing us on a motorcycle and we had a discussion about it.  No one would accuse a 20 or 30-year-old of a crisis when they develop a new hobby or interest, yet we were accused of that because we are older.  I know the evolution of life is that we slow down and have fewer new experiences and hobbies but that seems in conflict with the idea of retirement.  Now that we don't work for someone else or for a living, we get to do all those things that we postponed for lack of time or money or both.  So I think the next thing we should do is buzz our friend's house with an airplane my husband learns to fly!!  Keep the "crises" coming!!  --Arlene

I have been retired for over 7 years and what I have found is "I don't have time to have a job anymore".  I liked what Ken said and that would be nice but I don't have the time.  Since retirement I decided to do what I never had time to do before.  Stay busy and stay happy.  We did a survey before I retired from the military and found the AVERAGE enlisted man that retires without going back to work in a 2nd career lived 5 years after retirement.  The AVERAGE Officer that did not go back to work in a 2nd career died in 8 years.  We found that the more you do after retirement the better off you will be.  Nice thing about retirement is that now you can study what you want and not what you have to study, you can spend time on hobbies that have been on the shelf most of your life and the best part, you can spend as much time with your sweetheart as you want.  (Hopefully Sweetheart and wife are the same person).  My problem growning up on a dairy farm in Eagle and then spending a Career in the military I still wake up at 6 am and feel like I slept in.  Just remember to be retired you have to be tired first.

Bruce

The main purpose of PTA's now days is to help each child receive a good education and reach his/her potential by advocating for funding for public education (advocacy), encouraging parental involvement in schools to help the teachers with literacy, etc.,  and helping develop parenting or social skills for parent and leaders.  On the state level I administer an office and paid staff and organize board meetings for 50 people every other month.  We also do newsletters, handbooks, a huge convention in May at BYU, and we travel the state training leaders.  I must enjoy it, I don't get paid a salary.  But I do enjoy the trainings once or twice a year I am sent to with National PTA.

I will join the retired ranks in 700 days!  23 months!!  Enjoy it, all of you.  Don't get flabby.  :)  Ilene

On the Today show yesterday was a 79 year old grandma who has been diagnosed with cancer and has about 6-9 months left.  She told the Doctor, "good, then I have time to do stuff!."  They showed her tandem hang gliding.  Next is to swim with dolphins, then ride a donkey down the grand canyon, then sky dive.  She says when people say they are depressed, "Get over it! I don't have time for that!"  She is refusing chemo because she "doesn't want to spend her last few months sick."  What an attitude!  Maybe I should take up belly dancing or calf roping.  ;)  In my case, maybe they are the same thing.  Ilene

I am not retired, but I look at so many of our friends who have lost loved ones, (spouces)  and they are now SPENDING their children's inheritance on LIFE at LARGE!  The  message is, earn it and spend it ... if by the time our children are adults, they are on their own path ... I'll take mine.  LIVING the way we worked hard to get to.  However, the reality is ... we love our children and grandchildren; where's the argument?

Ken, I don't have your email now that you aren't with Idaho Power.  May I have it?

How was your summer?  Lots of fishin'?  Ilene