Retiring!!!!! The good and the unexpected

 
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 12-24-2014, 09:06 AM
quirky3's Avatar
quirky3 quirky3 is offline
Platinum member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,696
Thanks: 0
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Default Retiring!!!!! The good and the unexpected

I have been looking forward to this for 42 years. And I have made all of the preparations, planning, had the farewell celebrations and 12/31 is my last day. I am SO ready!!

I also have a good vision of what I will do with my time post-retirement. The one thing that caught me off-guard was the moment of saying goodbye to individual co-workers.

We have spent all day together for many years, and many people are taking vacation, so I am saying goodbye in bits and pieces. But it seems so surreal to say goodbye and really mean "Have a nice life", even though we can all stay in touch via email, facebook and Linkedin. NOT that I regret my decision in any way!
__________________
"Carpe the heck out of your Diems- with joy!"

"Do no harm" (but take no sh**!)
  #2  
Old 12-24-2014, 09:12 AM
Bonnevie Bonnevie is offline
Platinum member
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 1,537
Thanks: 12
Thanked 732 Times in 240 Posts
Default

It's one more aspect of retirement I don't think we're prepared for. Work was such a big part of our lives in so many ways.
  #3  
Old 12-24-2014, 09:23 AM
quirky3's Avatar
quirky3 quirky3 is offline
Platinum member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,696
Thanks: 0
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Default

Well, I really meant that it caught me by surprise , but not that it is a bad thing. Change is good! And I have been following TOTV since 2011, and I can't remember ANYONE saying they wish they had worked longer.

I was sharing to help other people prepare and celebrate too!
__________________
"Carpe the heck out of your Diems- with joy!"

"Do no harm" (but take no sh**!)
  #4  
Old 12-24-2014, 09:27 AM
liere liere is offline
Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Eastern LI, NY
Posts: 68
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default

Congratulations on your retirement! I retired in May after being in one place for 37 years....I experienced the same feelings you are having...my office was near the front door and everyone for several weeks would be coming in to wish me well and saying they would miss yelling good morning and good night to me.....but like you, I had an idea of what I wanted to do in retirement and kept focused on that. I keep in touch with co workers via social media and when I went back to NY in October, a bunch of us got together for lunch. What I also kept in the back of my mind, was that many of my coworkers were planning on retiring soon after me and were all heading in different directions. May you have a long, happy and healthy retirement!
  #5  
Old 12-24-2014, 09:29 AM
lpkshop lpkshop is offline
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Fernandina,NJ,Tucson,Queens
Posts: 293
Thanks: 44
Thanked 6 Times in 2 Posts
Default

One big surprise for me was after saying goodbye.... Crickets... Only a very few kept in touch. Yes I reached out, invited them etc but I found out who were my REAL friends. At first it was hard to swallow but, it really caught me off guard. Many have said the same to me..they were your work friends not to be confused with Real Friends. On to making new friends here! Congrats on your retirement
  #6  
Old 12-24-2014, 09:34 AM
KayakerNC's Avatar
KayakerNC KayakerNC is offline
Platinum member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 1,879
Thanks: 0
Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by quirky3 View Post
The one thing that caught me off-guard was the moment of saying goodbye to individual co-workers.

We have spent all day together for many years, and many people are taking vacation, so I am saying goodbye in bits and pieces. But it seems so surreal to say goodbye and really mean "Have a nice life", even though we can all stay in touch via email, facebook and Linkedin. NOT that I regret my decision in any way!
You do know that when anything goes wrong, for the next year or 2 they will blame you.
__________________
KayakerNC
Mt Clemens, MI
Newport, NC
Suffering from TV envy
  #7  
Old 12-24-2014, 09:36 AM
quirky3's Avatar
quirky3 quirky3 is offline
Platinum member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,696
Thanks: 0
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Default

Thank you for your well wishes!

I liken it to graduating from high school or college.....moving on to a new phase of life, and adding new friends. Since the advent of Facebook I have reconnected with many home town and college friends, so that should be true for work friends too!
__________________
"Carpe the heck out of your Diems- with joy!"

"Do no harm" (but take no sh**!)
  #8  
Old 12-24-2014, 09:37 AM
quirky3's Avatar
quirky3 quirky3 is offline
Platinum member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,696
Thanks: 0
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by KayakerNC View Post
You do know that when anything goes wrong, for the next year or 2 they will blame you.
oh, yes!! For sure! At my last few meetings they started joking about that already.
__________________
"Carpe the heck out of your Diems- with joy!"

"Do no harm" (but take no sh**!)
  #9  
Old 12-24-2014, 09:51 AM
manaboutown manaboutown is online now
Sage
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: NJ, NM, SC, PA, DC, MD, VA, NY, CA, ID and finally FL.
Posts: 7,378
Thanks: 12,796
Thanked 4,573 Times in 1,749 Posts
Default

Congratulations Quirky! I found retirement to be happy/sad but have never looked back. The sad part was not seeing good work friends daily but I do keep in touch with some of them. The happy part is multifaceted and HUGE. Again, congratulations!
__________________
"No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth." Plato

“To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.” Thomas Paine
  #10  
Old 12-24-2014, 10:37 AM
onslowe onslowe is offline
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Manhattan, the Bronx, Eastern LI, Village of Woodbury
Posts: 419
Thanks: 0
Thanked 2 Times in 1 Post
Default

Very best wishes, Quirky.
  #11  
Old 12-24-2014, 10:49 AM
Hankg42's Avatar
Hankg42 Hankg42 is offline
Member
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Village of Charlotte
Posts: 69
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default

Congratulations!

I too am retiring on 12/31, after 45 years of working in EDP / MIS / IT. I have found the same thing about saying goodbye. It's in bits and pieces with the holidays and vacations. Some are rather emotional.

Around here, the joke is how many projects are being assigned to me for 2015. For once in my life, I won't be worrying about it!

See you around The Villages!
__________________
Good judgement comes from experience. Unfortunately, a lot of that comes from bad judgement.
  #12  
Old 12-24-2014, 10:50 AM
DonH57's Avatar
DonH57 DonH57 is offline
Sage
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Village Santo Domingo.
Posts: 3,807
Thanks: 1
Thanked 533 Times in 264 Posts
Send a message via AIM to DonH57
Default

Congratulations on your retirement Quirky.
  #13  
Old 12-24-2014, 10:55 AM
quirky3's Avatar
quirky3 quirky3 is offline
Platinum member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,696
Thanks: 0
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Default

Thank you, and congratulations to my fellow retirees!

I also worked in IT, and saw so much change in technology over the years. (The following is said in an old lady voice)...."When I was young", they only had punch cards; no personal computers, email, word processing, or any of that.
__________________
"Carpe the heck out of your Diems- with joy!"

"Do no harm" (but take no sh**!)
  #14  
Old 12-24-2014, 10:58 AM
Hankg42's Avatar
Hankg42 Hankg42 is offline
Member
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Village of Charlotte
Posts: 69
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by quirky3 View Post
Thank you, and congratulations to my fellow retirees!

I also worked in IT, and saw so much change in technology over the years. (The following is said in an old lady voice)...."When I was young", they only had punch cards; no personal computers, email, word processing, or any of that.
I agree with you! I think my staff is tired of my stories of the "dark ages".
__________________
Good judgement comes from experience. Unfortunately, a lot of that comes from bad judgement.
  #15  
Old 12-24-2014, 11:06 AM
mgjim mgjim is offline
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: The Villages
Posts: 434
Thanks: 0
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Default

Congratulations Quirky! Retirement is pretty great once you get the hang of it.
__________________
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.
― Groucho Marx
 

Thread Tools

You are viewing a new design of the TOTV site. Click here to revert to the old version.

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:40 PM.